This year’s first major heat place in the United States started over the weekend and hit its peak on Monday
A “extremely dangerous” heat wave hit the east coast of the United States on Monday, with temperatures that should reach close to 40 degrees in the New York Metropolitan Area.
“This extreme heat will not only be uncomfortable and oppressive for New Yorkers. It will be brutal and dangerous if the necessary measures are not taken,” warned the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, recalling that “every year more than 500 people” in the metropolis of more than 8 million inhabitants die every year.
This year’s first major heat place in the United States began over the weekend and hit its peak on Monday in the main metropolitan areas of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.
Local authorities have instituted the elderly and people at risk due to breathing problems or lack of access to air conditioning, remaining hydrated or addressing “coolant” such as libraries.
The intensity and duration of this vacancy of heat makes it “extremely dangerous for anyone without refrigeration or hydration,” insisted on the United States National Meteorology Service (NWS, in the English acronym), stressing that extreme heat is the leading cause of climate-related deaths.
“An intense barometric crest, parked over the eastern half of the country, will continue to generate an extremely dangerous heat wave this week. The effects of extreme heat will extend from the Midwest today to the average Atlantic. This heat risk level is known to be rare (…) with little or no respite at night,” warns NWS.
In New York, this vacancy of heat comes at a time when the Democratic party voters are called on Tuesday to choose their candidate for municipal elections, in a primary that, according to the polls, is expected to be played between centrist Andrew Cuomo and the rising star of the left Zohran Mamdani.
“Vote on election day, even if there are 100 degrees (Fahrenheit, the unit of measure used in the United States),” or more than 37 degrees Celsius, Cuomo, former governor of the state of New York, told journalists over the weekend.
In the capital, Washington, the City Council reminded residents that many air -conditioned locations were open to cool off.
According to scientists, recurring heat waves are a clear sign of global warming and should increase in number, duration and intensity.
The year 2024 was the hottest that there is record in the United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and around the world. 2024 was also the first year to exceed the 1.5 ° C warming limit established by the Paris Climate Agreement, according to the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency.
