WASHINGTON, July 14, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Summer has just begun in the Northern 
Hemisphere but a brutal heat wave is already gripping parts of Europe, China 
and the United States, where record temperatures expected this weekend are a 
stark illustration of the dangers of a warming climate. 

Extreme heat advisories have been issued for more than 100 million Americans 
with the National Weather Service forecasting particularly dangerous 
conditions in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas.

Several European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and 
Poland, are also baking in searing temperatures.

Greece said its top tourist attraction, the Acropolis, would close during the 
hottest hours on Friday as temperatures were expected to reach 40 degrees 
Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Athens.

The mercury may soar as high as 48C (118.4F) on the islands of Sicily and 
Sardinia, the European Space Agency said -- "potentially the hottest 
temperatures ever recorded in Europe."

North Africa has also been sweltering and Morocco's meteorological service 
issued an extreme heat red alert for southern parts of the country.

Some regions of China, including the capital Beijing, are experiencing 
soaring temperatures and a major Chinese power company said its single-day 
power generation hit a record high on Monday.

Parts of eastern Japan are also expected to reach 38 to 39C (100.4 to 102.2F) 
on Sunday and Monday, with Japan's meteorological agency warning temperatures 
could reach previous records.

Last month was already the hottest June on record, according to the US space 
agency NASA and the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Extreme weather resulting from a warming climate is "unfortunately becoming 
the new normal," warns Secretary-General Petteri Taalas of the World 
Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Excessive heat is one of the deadliest meteorological events, according to 
the WMO. One recent study estimates over 61,000 people died from heat during 
Europe's record-breaking summer last year.

- Death Valley -

A contributing factor to the higher temperatures this year may be the climate 
pattern known as El Nino.

El Nino events, which occur every two to seven years, are marked by warmer-
than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific near 
the Equator, and last about nine to 12 months. 

North America has already seen a series of extreme meteorological events this 
summer, with smoke from wildfires that continue to burn out of control in 
Canada causing extraordinary air pollution across large parts of the United 
States.

The US northeast, particularly Vermont, has also recently been pummelled by 
torrential rains which have caused devastating floods.

According to climate scientists, global warming can cause heavier and more 
frequent rainfall.

Meanwhile, residents of much of the southern United States have been 
experiencing unrelenting high temperatures for weeks.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los 
Angeles, said the temperature in Death Valley could equal or surpass the 
record for the hottest air temperature ever reliably measured on Earth.

The WMO's official record is 56.7C (134F) recorded in Death Valley, in the 
southern California desert. But that was measured in 1913 and Swain stands by 
the figure of 54.4C (130F) from 2020 and 2021.

- 'Exceptionally high' -

The oceans have not been spared from the warm early summer either.

Water temperatures off the southern coast of Florida have surpassed 32C 
(90F), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

As for the Mediterranean, surface temperatures will be "exceptionally high" 
over the coming days and weeks, the WMO said, exceeding 30C (86F) in some 
parts, several degrees above average.

Warming ocean temperatures can have devastating consequences for aquatic life 
both in terms of survival and migration and can also negatively impact the 
fishing industry.

At the other end of the planet, Antarctic sea ice hit its lowest recorded 
level for the month of June.

The world has warmed an average of nearly 1.2C (1.9F) since the mid-1800s, 
unleashing more intense heatwaves, more severe droughts in some areas and 
storms made fiercer by rising seas.

The WMO's Taalas said the current heat wave "underlines the increasing 
urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as 
possible."