Soaring Temperatures Threaten Crops, So Scientists Are Looking to Alter the Plants. Genetically altering crops may be key to helping them adapt to extreme temperatures. But shrinking funds and social acceptance stand in the way.

Photosynthesis, the process through which plants get energy, stops working at higher temperatures, which are becoming more common in many of the world’s agricultural regions.Credit...Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

 

 

By Rebecca Dzombak

 

 

The world’s bread baskets are heating up, threatening the global food supply. Climate change has already shrunk yields for major crops like wheat and maize, and crop losses are likely to worsen in the coming decades.

But researchers are trying to avoid that future by helping plants deal with heat.

“There’s a lot of excitement in identifying why it is that some crops that are grown in the most extreme conditions are able to survive,” said Carl Bernacchi, a crop researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the author of one of a trio of papers on crop modification that were published Thursday in the journal Science.

Farmers can help crops beat the heat with water-based cooling, but that method has limitations. Modifying crops, either through traditional crossbreeding, artificially sped-up mutation or direct genetic editing, offers control over how plants respond to heat.

Photosynthesis, the process through which plants get energy, grinds to a halt between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius, or 104 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures that are becoming more common in many of the world’s agricultural regions.

 

“Photosynthesis really dictates the currency plants have to use,” Dr. Bernacchi said. “If photosynthesis falters, plants run out of energy and die.”

Dr. Bernacchi and his co-authors reviewed the potential of editing rubisco, the key enzyme that transforms carbon into sugar, and its partner, rubisco activase. In plants that grow in warm climates, rubisco activase seems to work better at helping rubisco function. Transferring that molecule from hot-climate plants to cool-climate plants can help cool-climate plants adapt to heat. Simply boosting its activity could help, too.

Altering photosynthesis is still a distant goal, said Walid Sadok, a crop physiologist at the University of Minnesota who was not involved with the paper.

“It’s a complex endeavor,” he said. “It’s still in its infancy, but it’s an interesting idea.”

A plant’s genome can also be altered to change its leaf architecture, spacing leaves out and setting them at just the right angle to ensure a balance of sun and shade that can help maintain temperature and productivity. Editing a leaf’s reflectivity and the amount of chlorophyll, or green pigment, that it contains can help, too.

Plants’ temperature-sensing system could also be modified. In a second Science paper, researchers propose a new way of understanding the network of proteins that control plants’ responses to heat. Instead of plants having discrete “thermometers,” temperature sensing could be spread out in many plant systems and proteins, the researchers say. That could provide many targets for editing for heat tolerance.

 

“We could develop designer crops tailored to future climates,” said Suresh Balasubramanian, a plant geneticist at Monash University in Australia who led the study.

Selective crossbreeding of plants is still a reliable option and should be continued while researchers work toward more complicated genetic editing goals, Dr. Sadok said.

But as temperatures climb beyond levels that modern crops can withstand, genetic editing may be more crucial, Dr. Bernacchi said.

“We may get to a point where existing crops don’t have the genetic diversity we need to adapt crops to the growth conditions that we’re going to see in the near future,” he said. “In that situation, we might need to be creative.”

Wild plants hold a vast pool of genetic diversity that could inspire new ways to keep crops cool. Plants can thrive in the hottest and driest places on Earth, such as Death Valley in California, the Atacama Desert in South America and the Namib Desert in southern Africa, where temperatures regularly soar above the threshold for photosynthesis.

 

Exploring these plants’ genomes could give scientists genes to transfer into staple crops such as soybeans, wheat and rice, bringing along heat tolerance. Scientists can also work backward, starting with a highly heat-tolerant plant and using genetic editing to add other desirable traits, like taste and size.

“We’re trying to cast our net more broadly,” said Sam Yeaman, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Calgary who wrote a third paper. “If we limit ourselves to only looking at crops, we’re going to have a tiny slice of the picture.”

Some complex genetic editing projects, such as photosynthesis or the temperature-sensing system, are years away from hitting farmers’ fields. Other genetic editing tools for heat tolerance, like changes to leaf architecture, could be available sooner, if they could get field tested and permitted, an expensive and time-consuming process.

“Funding right now in the United States doesn’t look particularly promising for the future of this research,” Dr. Bernacchi said.

And acceptance of genetically modified foods has been shrinking over the past decade or so, said Dominique Brossard, who studies the communication of controversial topics at the University of Wisconsin. The Trump administration’s movement toward “natural” foods could further stymie willingness to adopt genetically modified foods, she said.

 

 

Texas swelters as record-breaking heatwave sweeps across state. Record-high heat so early in the season means state has been hotter than Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth

 

A jogger runs along a trail in McAllister park as temperatures hit record highs on Tuesday, in San Antonio. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

 

Texas swelters as record-breaking heatwave sweeps across state

Record-high heat so early in the season means state has been hotter than Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth

Marina Dunbar

Texas is in the grip of an extraordinary heatwave this week, with record-breaking temperatures sweeping across the central and southern regions of the state.

While 100F days are common in Texas summers, such early-season heat is unusual. The record-high heat means that Texas has been recently hotter than Death Valley, California, which is often cited as the hottest place on Earth.

Temperatures across the central and southern region of the state ranged from 100F to 111F, levels that experts warn can pose serious health risks for anyone without access to air conditioning or enough water.

The extreme temperatures are expected to continue well into next week.

 

On Wednesday, Austin recorded a sweltering 101F by 5pm, breaking its previous same-day record of 97F set in 2022. Forecasts earlier in the day said the city could reach as high as 105F, far above the average May high of 87F.

The National Weather Service described the temperatures as “unseasonably hot weather” and advised residents to “stay hydrated and take frequent breaks in the shade or A/C!”

The heatwave began earlier in the week, with numerous cities hitting temperatures that exceeded 100F, stressing both public health systems and infrastructure.

The brutal heat is also testing Texas’s power grid. As residents sought relief by blasting air conditioners, energy demand surged. Electricity use peaked at over 78,000 megawatts by Wednesday afternoon, a new May record, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

The rising demand is exacerbated by the growing number of industrial facilities and cryptocurrency operations in the state, which have placed even more strain on the power grid.

The scientific community is in agreement that the global climate crisis is making heatwaves more intense, frequent and long-lasting. Last year was officially the hottest on record for Earth, and each of the last 10 years ranks among the 10 warmest since record-keeping began more than 175 years ago.

 

Despite the scientific consensus, the Trump administration has quickly rolled back efforts to address the climate crisis. Donald Trump has publicly downplayed the threat of global warming, withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement for the second time, and removed climate change from many federal policy discussions.

The administration also loosened environmental regulations, even as climate scientists warned of increasingly dangerous and costly impacts, including more frequent extreme heat events like the one currently gripping Texas.

More Than 100,000 Flee as Fires Race Unchecked in L.A. Blaze Breaks Out in Hollywood Hills, as L.A. Wildfires Kill at Least 5.

 

 

Corina KnollSoumya Karlamangla and Mike Ives

Corina Knoll is reporting from Los Angeles.

 

A central part of the city was under threat as a new fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills. Firefighters were already struggling to fight the worst blaze in Los Angeles history, and more than 100,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders.

 

A new wildfire broke out on Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills, an area of central Los Angeles indelibly associated with the American film industry, as emergency crews struggled against several other devastating blazes that were raging out of control and forcing desperate evacuations.

Even though wildfires are a fact of life in the hills of Southern California, the experience of watching one encroach upon a metropolitan area left residents deeply unsettled and afraid.

The 60-acre Sunset fire, burning among the hiking trails and secluded mansions of the Hollywood Hills, was zero percent contained as of 9 p.m. local time. A mandatory evacuation order was in effect for a wealthy area bordered by Mulholland Drive and Hollywood Boulevard, and an evacuation warning extended west along Sunset Boulevard toward West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

The street names evoke the grandeur and romance of the movies, and the iconic “Hollywood” sign stands nearby, on the other side of the 101 Freeway.

As of Wednesday evening, five people had died as a result of the wildfires, more than 25,000 acres had burned, more than 100,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders and hundreds of thousands of customers had lost power. Glowing embers were floating through the sky like lightning bugs as thick black smoke turned day into night.

The largest of the blazes is the uncontained, 15,000-acre Palisades Fire. It has already consumed more than 1,000 structures, making it the most destructive in Los Angeles history, according to Cal Fire, the state fire agency.

About 16 million people in Southern California were under a red flag warning, the highest fire-related alert issued by the National Weather Service, by 9 p.m. on Wednesday. The agency said “extremely critical” fire weather conditions — the result of strong winds and dry conditions — were forecast to wane overnight. But conditions would remain “critically elevated” through at least Thursday and potentially into Friday, it said.

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  Here’s what else to know:

• Other fires: East of Los Angeles in Eaton Canyon, the day-old Eaton fire had reached Pasadena and consumed more than 10,000 acres as of Wednesday night. Another blaze that started on Tuesday, the Hurst fire in the San Fernando Valley, had grown to about 850 acres. Read more about the three major fires.

• Water availability: A lack of water has hampered crews’ efforts to beat back the major fires and several smaller ones The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power said that the department had filled reservoirs across the city before the windstorm. But with so many trucks connected to hydrants, and no aerial support possible, the tanks were depleted.

• Climate context: Santa Ana winds are notorious for spreading wildfire, and they often occur in colder months. By January, though, their impacts are usually less dramatic, as the landscape is typically less flammable after rains in the fall and early winter. But this year, the rains have not come, leaving most of Southern California extremely dry. Scientists have also found that fires across the region have become faster-moving in recent decades.

   Yan Zhuang, Jacey Fortin, and Ken Bensinger contributed reporting.

   

Fast-moving wildfire destroys homes as strong winds hit southern California. Fire quickly consumed hundreds of acres in the Pacific Palisades, an affluent community north of Santa Monica.

 

Sam Levin in Los Angeles, Gabrielle Canon and Dani Anguiano

A fast-moving wildfire erupted in Los Angeles county on Tuesday, quickly consuming nearly 3,000 acres and destroying homes in an affluent community along the Pacific Ocean.

Whipped by unusually strong winds, the fire prompted frenzied evacuations through winding roads in the Pacific Palisades, an area north of Santa Monica, with residents fleeing on foot as flames approached.

Late Tuesday evening, new evacuations were ordered in a different part of Los Angeles for an unrelated blaze. The Eaton fire started around 6.30pm PST in Altadena, at the base of the San Gabriel mountains, and quickly grew to threaten homes. By 8pm it had burned 200 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

 

A “life-threatening” windstorm is impacting a large swath of southern California, fanning the destructive fires and complicating early containment efforts. The region could be seeing the strongest winds in more than a decade, bringing extreme fire risk to areas that have been without significant rain for months.

Videos shared online from Pacific Palisades residents, including from the actor James Woods, show flames licking homes through the canyons, thrashing trees blowing in the winds and plumes of black smoke billowing into a cloudless sky. As the fire rapidly spread, severe gridlock on narrow streets led many to leave their cars, some which were subsequently engulfed in flames. With ditched vehicles blocking first responders, authorities were forced to use bulldozers to move cars.

 

The Palisades fire broke out around 10.30am and by 6.30pm had burned more than 2,900 acres, with the city of LA and the California governor, Gavin Newsom, declaring a state of emergency. Tens of thousands of people were under evacuation orders.

The blazes also reached the grounds of the Getty Villa, an art museum by the Malibu coast. Some vegetation on the property burned, but museum officials said no structures had been impacted and that the galleries and staff were protected by a range of prevention measures.

The blazes also hit the grounds of the Palisades Charter high school, including its baseball field, and approached the beach in Malibu near the Pacific Coast Highway.

Southern California Edison shut off power to more than 28,000 customers as of Tuesday evening, according to the utility’s website. The shutoffs are meant to target areas where the conditions could lead to fires started by equipment.

The Los Angeles school district was also forced to relocate students from three campuses, Joe Biden had to reschedule plans for an event announcing two national monuments and movie premieres in Hollywood were canceled.

Actor Eugene Levy, the honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades, evacuated earlier on Tuesday, telling the Los Angeles Times while stuck in traffic, “The smoke looked pretty black and intense.” Other evacuees described harrowing escapes, one woman recounting to ABC7 how she abandoned her vehicle and fled with her cat in her arms: “I’m getting hit with palm leaves on fire … It’s terrifying. It feels like a horror movie. I’m screaming and crying walking down the street.”

The Palisades fire burns near homes amid a powerful windstorm in Pacific Palisades, California, on Tuesday. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Strong winds began hitting Los Angeles and Ventura counties on Tuesday and were likely to peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when gusts could reach 80mph (129km/h), the National Weather Service (NWS) said Monday. Isolated gusts could top 100mph in mountains and foothills. The NWS called the extreme event a “particularly dangerous situation”, a rarely issued type of red flag warning, saying it was “as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather”.

“The worst and most severe part of this wind event is yet to come,” said LA city council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson at a briefing around 4pm.

A large area of southern California, home to millions of people, is under what officials have described as “extreme risk” from the destructive storm. The weather service warned of downed trees and knocked over big rigs, trailers, and motorhomes, and advised residents to stay indoors and away from windows.

Jeff Monford, a utility spokesperson, said it wasn’t always possible to give advanced notice to customers, telling the Los Angeles Times: “This is a phenomenon of the increasing effects of climate change on weather. We have more weather extremes that can change more quickly than we might be accustomed to.”

Flames from the Palisades fire burn a home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday. Photograph: Eric Thayer/Getty Images

 

The winds will act as an “atmospheric blow-dryer” for vegetation, bringing a long period of fire risk that could extend into the more populated lower hills and valleys, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

“We really haven’t seen a season as dry as this one follow a season as wet as the previous one,” Swain said during a Monday livestream, explaining that the abundant growth of vegetation combined with a severe wind event creates an elevated risk.

Newsom announced on Monday that his office would deploy resources around the region to respond to the storm, including moving fire crews and equipment from the north, where the fire season has come to an end, to southern California. He also secured assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We are no strangers to winter-time wildfire threats, so I ask all Californians to pay attention to local authorities and be prepared to evacuate if told to go,” the governor said in a statement.

The Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday evening, saying on Twitter the designation would help clear a path for a rapid recovery.

The region has been experiencing warmer-than-average temperatures, in part due to recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas.

Southern California has not seen more than 0.1in (0.25cm) of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, up north, there have been multiple drenching storms.

The fire risks are particularly extreme in the charred area left behind by the wind-driven Franklin fire in December, which damaged or destroyed nearly 50 homes in the Malibu area.

The blaze was one of nearly 8,000 wildfires that together impacted more than 1,560 sq miles (more than 4,040 sq km) in California in 2024.

The last wind event of this magnitude occurred in November 2011, according to the NWS, during which more than 400,000 customers throughout LA county lost power for days, and there was significant damage in the San Gabriel Valley.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

 

Crise hídrica global ameaça produção de alimentos

Criança palestina carrega galão de água em Gaza, em maio de 2024. Mais de mil crianças com menos de 5 anos de idade morrem todos os dias por causa de água imprópria e falta de saneamento.

 

California is experiencing droughts which may affect 5C students, if they haven’t already. (Courtesy: Shutter Theory)

 Relatório considerado histórico pede ações urgentes em nível mundial, alertando para efeitos de uma persistente má gestão dos recursos hídricos somada às mudanças climáticas.

 

Mais da metade da produção mundial de alimentos pode estar em risco até 2050 se medidas urgentes contra a crise global de água não forem adotadas, alertou um grupo de líderes e especialistas em um relatório publicado nesta quinta-feira (17/10).

"Quase 3 bilhões de pessoas e mais da metade da produção mundial de alimentos estão agora em áreas onde o armazenamento total de água tende a diminuir", diz o relatório produzido pela Comissão Global sobre a Economia da Água (GCEW, na sigla em inglês).

Intitulada A economia da água: valorizar o ciclo hidrológico como um bem comum global, a análise alerta que a crise hídrica pode levar a uma redução média de 8% no Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) em países de alta renda até 2050 e de até 15% em países de baixa renda.

Os declínios econômicos seriam consequência "dos efeitos combinados das mudanças nos padrões de precipitação e do aumento das temperaturas devido às mudanças climáticas, juntamente com o declínio do armazenamento total de água e a falta de acesso a água limpa e saneamento".

A GCEW considera que "a utilização destrutiva da terra e a persistente má gestão dos recursos hídricos se juntaram ao agravamento da crise climática para colocar o ciclo global da água sob uma pressão sem precedentes".

Em hidrologia, o chamado ciclo da água ou ciclo hidrológico refere-se à troca contínua de água entre a atmosfera, a água do solo, águas superficiais, subterrâneas e das plantas.

"Pela primeira vez na história da humanidade, estamos desequilibrando o ciclo global da água. Já não podemos confiar na chuva, a fonte de toda a água doce, devido às alterações climáticas e de uso da terra causadas pela humanidade, que prejudicam a base do bem-estar humano e da economia mundial", afirma Johan Rockström, diretor do Instituto de Potsdam de Pesquisa sobre Impactos Climáticos (PIK) e um dos cinco copresidentes da GCEW.

Relatório "histórico"

A Comissão Global sobre a Economia da Água foi criada pela Holanda em 2022, com base no trabalho de dezenas de cientistas e economistas de renome, com o objetivo de formar uma visão abrangente sobre o estado dos sistemas hidrológicos globais e sua gestão.

O relatório de 194 páginas publicado nesta quinta é o maior estudo global a analisar os vários aspectos da crise da água e sugerir soluções. O documento, que a comissão classifica de "histórico", argumenta que as abordagens existentes ocasionaram a crise da água, por não levarem em conta o seu valor para a economia e a preservação dos ecossistemas.  

Embora a água seja frequentemente percebida como "um presente abundante da natureza", o relatório enfatiza que ela é escassa e cara para transportar.

Em julho de 2010, a Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas reconheceu o direito de todas as pessoas ao acesso a água suficiente para uso pessoal e doméstico, o que equivaleria a entre 50 e 100 litros por dia. A GCEW, no entanto, afirma que essa quantidade foi subestimada e sustenta que "uma vida digna – incluindo nutrição e consumo adequados – requer um mínimo de cerca de 4.000 litros por pessoa por dia".

 

Água como bem comum global

Os especialistas apelaram para que o ciclo da água seja considerado um "bem comum global", o que exige uma "colaboração através de fronteiras e culturas", e para uma transformação na governança da água em todos os níveis.

"Os custos envolvidos nessas ações são muito pequenos em comparação ao dano que a inação contínua causará às economias e à humanidade", destacaram os especialistas.

Para enfrentar a crise, é necessária uma "nova economia da água", baseada num "pensamento mais ousado e integrado e numa reformulação da estrutura das políticas", defende a comissão.

"Só podemos resolver esta crise se pensarmos em termos muito mais amplos sobre como governamos a água. Reconhecendo as interações da água com as alterações climáticas e a biodiversidade. Mobilizando todas as nossas ferramentas econômicas e financiamento público e privado para inovar e investir na água. Pensando e agindo multilateralmente", resume outro copresidente da GCEW, o líder de Singapura, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Do fim de subsídios a dietas de origem vegetal

Entre outras medidas, o documento da GCEW defende a eliminação de subsídios prejudiciais em setores de uso intensivo de água. "Precisamos vincular a precificação da água a subsídios apropriados", disse Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Diretora-Geral da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC) e copresidente da GCEW.

A primeira missão, segundo a comissão, deverá ser o lançamento de uma revolução nos sistemas alimentares, o que incluiria o uso da microirrigação (técnica de irrigação que consiste na aplicação de água de forma precisa e controlada) na agricultura e a mudança progressiva "de dietas de origem animal para dietas de origem vegetal".

A GCEW recomenda também que sejam conservados e restaurados habitats naturais essenciais para preservar a umidade nos solos e plantas, que retorna e circula pela atmosfera e gera chuva. 

"Nenhuma comunidade ou economia será poupada"

O relatório apela ainda pela proteção dos mais pobres e vulneráveis. "A crise global da água atinge primeiro, e de forma mais dura, os mais vulneráveis. Mais de mil crianças com menos de 5 anos de idade morrem todos os dias por causa de água imprópria e falta de saneamento", diz o relatório.

"No entanto, nenhuma comunidade ou economia será poupada das consequências de um ciclo da água desregulado — resultado de nossas ações coletivas ao longo de décadas. O mais perigoso é que falharemos no combate às mudanças climáticas se falharmos na gestão da água", alerta o texto.

 

Grim new death records as brutal heat plagues US south-west into the autumn

Traffic warden Rai Rogers during an eight-hour shift in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12 July 2023. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

 
 September has offered little reprieve after a sweltering summer, with Las Vegas on 102nd day of temperatures above 100F

 

Brutal heat continues to plague the south-west US, with excessive heat alerts lingering long into September as parts of the region set grim new records for deaths connected to the sweltering temperatures.

Autumn has offered little reprieve for cities that have already spent months mired in triple-digit temperatures. This week, Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; and Palm Springs, California, are all grappling with severe weather, with highs that have pushed over 100F (38C). More than 16 million people in the US were under heat alerts on Friday, according to the National Weather Service, mostly clustered in the southern tips of Nevada, Arizona and California.

“Late-season heat is dangerous because people are fatigued from fighting heat all summer,” the NWS forecast office in Las Vegas cautioned in an alert, which warned of extreme weather expected to last through the weekend and into next week. “This is especially true this year,” it added, “as 2024 continues to break all-time heat records.”

Fueled by the climate crisis, and often exacerbated by concrete cityscapes that cook when temperatures rise, heatwaves are getting longer, larger and more intense.

 

Las Vegas had its 102nd day of temperatures above 100F on Friday, a new record for the most days in a single year. Several states, including Arizona and California, have experienced their warmest summers on record this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and forecasters are predicting that 2024 may rank as the hottest year – a record just set in 2023.

“But it’s not over,” NWS Las Vegas said on Twitter, noting the heat warnings lingering in the forecast through the weekend.

 The scorching and sustained heat has taken a devastating toll; heat already ranks as the most lethal weather-related disaster in the US, and deaths are increasing. Heat-associated fatalities are growing across the south-west, where shadeless streets can grow hot enough to cause second-degree burns in seconds. As dangerously hot weather stretches past summer and into spring and fall, the risks for those who don’t have access to cooling have continued to rise.

In Arizona’s Maricopa county, home to Phoenix, 664 fatalities are believed to have been linked to the heat this year , according to public health officials, who are still working to confirm more than half of them. Southern Nevada, where Las Vegas is located, has seen more deaths this year than in any year prior, with officials confirming this week that there have been 342 fatalities linked to the heat. This surpassed last year’s record, which marked an 80% increase over 2022.

But even these tragically high numbers are believed to paint only part of the picture. Heat deaths can be difficult to track, especially among high-risk populations including in unhoused communities. “We will inevitably see this number climb,” Melanie Rouse, Clark county’s coroner, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Older people, children and people with underlying health conditions are among the most at risk, especially among those without access to air conditioning, but first responders have also reported that heat-related emergencies have been climbing for workers.

 “Delivery drivers, warehouse operators, our construction trades – basically anyone who has to work outside – we have seen emergencies from them and people with regular medical emergencies, and during a normal day the heat causes them to succumb,” Scott Vivier, the deputy fire chief in Henderson, a city south-east of Las Vegas, said in July.

Vivier’s department is among the first in the region to use a new tool called the polar pod, which enables emergency responders to pack someone in ice and water while they transport them to the hospital. Vivier said it’s had an incredible impact on their ability to save lives, and that they’ve even been trained to use the pods to revive overheated pets.

Exposure to prolonged extreme heat can also have lingering effects that are harder to quantify. As residents across the south-west yearn for the coming of a cooler autumn, public health clinicians have cautioned the heat can pack a psychological punch as well, leading to symptoms like irritability, anxiety and difficulty concentrating.

 

Phoenix, Arizona, hits its 100th consecutive day of 100F weather

A billboard shows the temperature in Phoenix, Arizona, on 5 June 2024. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
 

Hottest large city in US broke previous heat record from 1993 as temperatures are expected to reach 110 tomorrow

 

Phoenix, Arizona, saw its 100th straight day of 100F (37.7C) heat this week.

The hottest large city in the United States broke its previous record of 76 consecutive 100F days set in 1993. The relentless streak, which started on 27 May and hit its 100th day on Tuesday, is forecast to persist into next week. An excessive heat warning is in effect through Friday, with temperatures expected to reach 110F (43C) tomorrow.

This summer was the hottest one in Phoenix since 1896, when records first began. Latest county data shows that at least 177 people died from heat-related causes so far this year, with 436 under investigation. Last year, Maricopa county saw 645 confirmed heat-related fatalities, enduring 55 days in a row with above 110F temperatures.

“Summers in Phoenix are becoming increasingly hotter, with more intense and prolonged heat,” said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at the non-profit Climate Central. “On average, Phoenix now experiences about 60 days [or] 65% of the summer with extreme heat.”

In addition to Arizona, millions of Americans across Nevada and California are facing scorching heat, with the highest temperature expected to peak in the Death Valley national park at 120F (49C).

“Temperatures will be running up to 8 degrees above normal for early September,” the National Weather Service Las Vegas office warned in an advisory.

Homeless people, children, the elderly, pregnant people and those with chronic medical conditions are at higher risk for heat-related illness.

 

“Consecutive high heat days mean that people in Phoenix don’t get respite at night, especially those who don’t have or can’t afford to run an AC unit as well as those who work outdoors,” said Juan Declet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“I would like the public to understand that this heat is no longer a rare occurrence,” Declet-Barreto said. “It will continue to get worse year after year if we don’t make drastic emissions reductions. We need to decarbonize our energy, industrial, agricultural and transportation sectors. There’s no way around that if we want cities like Phoenix to be livable.”

 

July was California’s hottest month in history

 

A man fishes off a jetty in Alameda, California, as the sun sets over the San Francisco Bay on 1 July.

 

Some areas see days of temperatures over 100F, drying plants and fueling wildfires as extreme heat creates deadly conditions

 

California experienced its hottest month on record in July as grueling heat baked the American west for weeks on end.

The state’s average temperature for the month was 81.7F (27.6C), according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, but some areas endured days of temperatures greater than 100F (about 38C). Several cities broke temperature records during a heatwave in early July – Palm Springs hit 124F on 5 July, while Redding in the state’s far north saw a high of 119F on 6 July.

Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth, recorded its hottest month ever in July, according to the National Park Service (NPS). In Nevada, Las Vegas reached 120F on 7 July, its hottest day in history, and set a record for number of days over 115F.

The impacts of extreme heat are being felt across the US and the world as the climate crisis drives increasingly severe and dangerous weather conditions. Last month about one-third of the US population was under warnings for record heat. The Earth saw its hottest day in recorded history on 22 July, breaking a record set just one day earlier.

A firefighter uses a drip torch to burn vegetation while trying to stop the Park fire in Tehama county on Wednesday. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP

 

Extreme heat poses major health risks and is the mostly deadly type of weather-related disaster. It is particularly dangerous for unhoused people and seniors as well as those who don’t have access to cooling spaces.

California’s high temperatures in July also helped dry out vegetation and fuel wildfires across the state. Late last month, the Park fire quickly exploded after an alleged arsonist sparked by the blaze in a city park by pushing a burning car into a ravine. The area had baked at temperatures 100F and above for days before and after the fire began. The Park fire has since become the fourth-largest blaze in state history.

 

The Pacific north-west has also endured intense heat and intense wildfires. Oregon has seen more land burned this year, more than 1.4m acres (567,000 hectares), than any year in the last 32 years, when the north-west interagency coordination center’s record-keeping began.

The extreme heat leads to more intense fires, and makes for challenging conditions for the firefighters responding to the incidents. Firefighters battling the Thompson fire last month, not far from where the Park fire broke out, suffered heat-related injuries.

Heatwaves are increasing in intensity and frequency, as well as duration and range, and are the weather events most directly impacted by the climate crisis, Dr Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told the Guardian last month. He described heatwaves as “the weather extremes that are impacted by the steroids of climate change”.

“The trend is toward more frequent, more extreme, longer-lasting heatwaves all over the world,” he said. “California is certainly no exception.”

 

US heatwave smashes records as ‘extreme fire weather’ fuels new blazes Over 146 million Americans under extreme heat alerts as dozens of locations in US west tie or break past heat records

 

The Lake Fire burns close to what was Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California, on 6 July 2024. Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

A fierce heatwave that shattered records this weekend – with dangerous temperatures that spiked well into the triple digits – will continue to grip much of the US in the coming days and fuel fires across the west.

More than 146 million Americans were under extreme heat alerts on Monday, as both sides of the country cooked. Excessive heat warnings, the National Weather Service’s (NWS) highest alert, stretch across the west, covering parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Areas on the east coast, including Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, were also under heat advisories.

 Dozens of locations in the west and Pacific north-west tied or broke previous heat records in recent days. On Sunday, Las Vegas set an all-time record high of 120F (48.8C), while across the desert in Death Valley national park, temperatures reached 128F (53.3 C), breaking a daily heat record and coming just shy of it’s all time high. The dangerous temperatures caused the death of a motorcyclist in the park.

Oregon also faced triple-digit temperatures and saw several records toppled, including in Salem, where on Sunday it hit 103F (39.4C), topping the 99F (37.2C) mark set in 1960. Authorities in Multnomah county, home to Portland, said they were investigating four suspected deaths tied to the heatwave.

Meanwhile, firefighters are battling a flurry of new blazes that sparked in the brutal temperatures over the weekend, with the sweltering, dry conditions posing challenges for fire crews. There were 73 large active fires burning across the country Monday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, collectively covering close to half a million acres, and fire conditions are expected to continue through the week.

California, which was left covered in quick-to-burn grasses after a wet winter, saw an explosive week and firefighters are battling 18 active blazes.

In Santa Barbara county, the Lake fire burned through dry grass, brush and timber over the weekend, prompting evacuations of some rural homes, including the Neverland ranch. The fire has grown to 20,320 acres and was at 8% containment Monday morning.

Further north, the Shelly fire, which erupted in California’s Marble Mountain Wilderness on 3 July, continues to pose threats to “communities, private timberlands, cultural resources, and wilderness areas”, CalFire posted in an update Monday, as fire behavior became more extreme through the weekend.

“Yesterday, as well as today, we have experienced some problematic weather forecasts that leads to critical fire behavior,” John Chester, operations section chief with CalFire’s Siskiyou unit said. “We are expecting the same weather patterns and forecasts over the next few days.”

 

Fire conditions have also been intense in Utah, fueling rapid growth for several large fires.

The Silver King fire, which has roared across more than 10,823 acres – more than 4,500 acres in a single day – has exhibited extreme behavior and is 0% contained. Hundreds of homes are at risk from the fire, as state officials secured federal support Monday.

“A warming and drying trend will continue today with an excessive heat warning, as temperatures continue to increase above average the relativity humidity continues to drop to 10 – 15%,” officials with the US Forest Service said in a Monday morning update on the fire, adding that gusty winds will continue to fan the flames. “These elements combine for extreme fire weather.”

The heat wave came as the global temperature in June hit a record high for the 13th straight month and it marked the 12th straight month that the world was 1.5C (2.7F) warmer than pre-industrial times, the European climate service Copernicus said.

While parts of California will see some relief from the brutally hot conditions, extreme heat is predicted to linger across the US west throughout the week. As the heatwave shifts north into Oregon and Washington, and moves east covering parts of the Great Basin and Arizona, more records will likely be broken. “The multi-day length and record warm overnight temperatures will continue to cause heat stress in people without adequate cooling and hydration,” NWS meteorologists wrote in a forecast published on Monday.

 People shield their eyes from the sun along the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, when the city set an all-time record high temperature of 120F (48.8C). Photograph: John Locher/AP

 

Rare heat advisories were extended even into higher elevations including around Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada, with the weather service in Reno, Nevada, warning of “major heat risk impacts, even in the mountains”.

More extreme highs are in the near forecast, including possibly 130F (54.4C) around midweek at Furnace Creek, California, in Death Valley. The hottest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 134F (56.67C) in July 1913 in Death Valley, though some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130F (54.4C), recorded there in July 2021.

Park officials warned visitors to take the heat seriously. “While this is a very exciting time to experience potential world record-setting temperatures in Death Valley, we encourage visitors to choose their activities carefully, avoiding prolonged periods of time outside of an air-conditioned vehicle or building when temperatures are this high,” Mike Reynolds, a park superintendent said.

 

 

(Martianization) Extreme Wildfires Have Doubled in 2 Decades, Study Finds

 

Firefighters and residents trying to extinguish a fire in Canakkale, northwest Turkey, in August. Last year was the most extreme year for wildfire intensity on record.

 

In a changing climate, extreme wildfire events are becoming far more common and more intense, according to a new analysis.

By Austyn Gaffney

The hottest year on record, 2023, was also the most extreme for wildfires, according to new research.

Both the frequency and intensity of extreme wildfires have more than doubled in the last two decades, the study found. And when the ecological, social and economic consequences of wildfires were accounted for, six of the last seven years were the most “energetically intense.”

“That we’ve detected such a big increase over such a short period of time makes the findings even more shocking,” said Calum Cunningham, a postdoctoral researcher in pyrogeography at the University of Tasmania and lead author of the study published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. “We’re seeing the manifestations of a warming and drying climate before our very eyes in these extreme fires.”

Last week wildfires in New Mexico killed two people and burned more than 24,000 acres; in Southern California, more than 14,000 acres burned near Los Angeles; and in Turkey, at least 12 people died and many more were injured by fires that started on Thursday from burning crop residue, according to Turkish health authorities and ministers.

Even though wildfires can be deadly and cost the United States up to $893 billion annually, which includes the costs of rebuilding and the economic effects of pollution and injuries, most fires are “relatively benign and in most cases ecologically beneficial,” Dr. Cunningham said.

The new study looked at the total power emitted by clusters of fire events, defined as fires burning at the same time in proximity, or in the same spot, at multiple times in a single day. The researchers analyzed 21 years of data collected by two NASA satellites between January 2003 and November 2023 to quantify how fire activity has changed over time.

They identified 2,913 extreme events out of more than 30 million fires across the world. Such extreme fire events were also defined by the vast amount of smoke they emitted, their high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, which can further accelerate global warming, and the fire’s ecological, social, and economic effects.

“This has been the holy grail for me,” said David Bowman, senior author of the study and professor of pyrogeography and fire science at the University of Tasmania. While he observed fires growing stronger, especially in Australia after 2019’s bush fires killed 173 people and almost three billion vertebrates, he said he needed the data from the study to show a trend and convey something enormous is happening.

“When you have these signals that are so frightening, it’s also really motivating,” Dr. Bowman said. “There’s an imperative to do something about this.”

The global increase in the frequency and intensity of fires was almost exclusively caused by changes in two regions. In the temperate conifer forests of the western United States and Canada, extreme fire events increased by more than 11-fold, from six in 2003 to 67 in 2023. The boreal forests of North America and Russia’s northern latitudes saw a 7.3-fold increase in energetically extreme fires.

The scientists plan to examine why the fires in these biomes were so extreme, but Dr. Cunningham said their findings were consistent with the effects of climate change, which make conditions hotter and drier in these forests and more conducive to extreme events.

This scale of wildfire threatens not only nearby communities but also people living far away because dense smoke can significantly affect air quality and can travel great distances.

“The largest smoke events come from the most intense fire events,” said Jeffrey Pierce, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. “If you don’t have the ability to clean air in your home or seek places that have air purification systems,” wildfire smoke can have strong health effects.

Jennifer R. Marlon, a research scientist and lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said the study showed that humans are changing patterns of forest and grassland burning far beyond what we’ve ever done in the past.

“Larger and more severe wildfires are one of the most obvious manifestations of a planet that is heating up,” Dr. Marlon said in an email. “If we can help people better understand that connection, we may be able to build support for working more quickly to reduce the root causes of the problem — burning fossil fuels.”

Austyn Gaffney is a reporter covering climate and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.

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