Extreme heatwave live updates: hundreds of millions from US to Europe and Asia hit by severe heat

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Texas energy council issues operating condition notice for extreme hot weather

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in the United States has forecast temperatures between July 17 and 21 to be above 103F (39.4C) in the north central and south central weather zones.

It has issued an operating condition notice for extreme, hot weather between this timeframe.

The skyline of downtown Houston is seen during excessive heat warnings for Southeast Texas, in Houston, Texas. Photograph: Go Nakamura/Reuters

Yesterday, ERCOT’s Weather Watch took effect due to forecasted higher temps, higher electrical demands and the potential for lower reserves. It said at the time that grid conditions were expected to be normal.

Heatstroke alerts issued for Japan, affecting tens of millions of people

The government on Sunday issued heatstroke alerts for 20 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, mainly in the east and southwest.

A man cools off in a public water playground at a park in eastern Tokyo on July 16, 2023, as temperatures in the mid-30s Centigrade (mid to upper 90s F) baked the nation's capital. Japan issued heatstroke alerts on July 16 to tens of millions of people as near-record high temperatures scorched swathes of the country, while torrential rain pummelled other regions. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides in the north of the country, where a man was found dead inside a submerged car in a rice field, police said. Seven people died last week after torrential rain hit the country’s south-west.

China provisionally recorded highest temperature ever

The UK’s met office said that China had provisionally recorded its highest temperature ever on Sunday. It said Sanbao, in western Xinjiang region, reached 52.2 degrees.

Sanbao is in the Turpan basin, a below-sea level depression with a desert that has recorded some of the most extreme temperature variations in China, from temperatures well below zero in winter to baking summers.

The met office did not provide a source for the temperature, which was not reported by Chinese state media.

Record breaking temperatures have been recorded across Nevada in the United States.

Reno reached 108F (42.2C) and Tonopah reached 104F (40C), a tie with both of their hottest days on record.

A heatwave profile for Las Vegas also shows that current temps are “absolutely as hot as the lower atmosphere on Earth can possibly get these days”:

European heatwave, in pictures

In Spain, extreme heat has sparked wildfires across the country and thousands have been evacuated. Pictured below, firefighters battle a forest blaze that sparked in La Palma, Canary Islands.

The fire has burned more than 4,600 hectares of Monte, and more than 4000 people have been evacuated.

Operators of the EIRIF, BRIFOR and UME, work in the extinguishing of the forest fire declared on July 15 in the early morning. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Operators of the EIRIF, BRIFOR and UME, work in the extinguishing of the forest fire declared on July 15 at dawn. La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain on July 16, 2023. The fire has burned to date more than 4,600 hectares of Monte, and has forced some 4,200 people from the Tijarafe and Puntagorda area to evict. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

In Hungary, temperatures are expected to soar past 40 degrees C in some parts of the country:

A tourist refreshes at a vapor barrier in Budapest, Hungary, on July 16, 2023. A heatwave could break records in Hungary, with temperatures expected to soar past 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

And in Italy, the new heatwave is expected to peak on July 18 when temperatures around southern Sardinian may reach 48 degrees C:

A man cools off in a fountain in Milan, Italy, 16 July 2023. Italy is facing the third heatwave of the summer bringing record temperatures. The new heatwave is forecast to peak on 18 July, when temperatures in areas of southern Sardinian may reach 48 degrees Celsius, according to forecasts. On 15 July, the health ministry has put on red alert major Italian cities. Photograph: Mourad Balti Touati/EPA

A man cools off in a fountain during a heat wave in Rome, Italy, 16 July 2023. Photograph: Massimo Percossi/EPA

South Korean president blames botched responses for rising death toll

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has blamed authorities’ failure to follow disaster response rules as the death toll from days of torrential rain grew to 39, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.

Rescue workers search for missing people along an underground tunnel, where some 15 cars were trapped in floodwaters after heavy rains, in Cheongju. South Korea’s president vowed on July 17 to “completely overhaul” Seoul’s approach to extreme weather from climate change, after at least 39 people were killed by flooding and landslides in torrential monsoon rains. Photograph: YONHAP/AFP/Getty Images

The rains have pummelled the country’s central and southern regions since Thursday as the rainy season that started in late June reaches its peak. The interior ministry has also reported nine people missing and 34 injured across the nation.

Twelve deaths, including three bodies retrieved overnight, occurred in a tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday after a river levee collapsed. Nine others were hurt.

The incident fuelled questions over South Korea’s efforts to prevent and respond to flood damage. Some drivers who use the road regularly blamed the government for failing to ban access to the underpass even though floods were widely forecast.

Rescue workers search for missing people along an underground tunnel, where some 15 cars were trapped in floodwaters after heavy rains, in Cheongju early on July 17, 2023. South Korea’s president vowed on July 17 to “completely overhaul” Seoul’s approach to extreme weather from climate change, after at least 39 people were killed by flooding and landslides in torrential monsoon rains. Photograph: YONHAP/AFP/Getty Images

Yoon today convened an intra-agency meeting on disaster response and said the situation was made worse because of poor management of vulnerable areas. He said:

We’ve repeatedly emphasised access control over dangerous areas and preemptive evacuation since last year, but if basic principles of disaster response are not kept on the spot, it is difficult to ensure public safety.

He called for authorities to make the utmost effort to rescue victims and vowed support for recovery work and affected families, including designating flood-hit areas as special disaster zones.

- with Reuters

California’s Death Valley sizzles as brutal heat wave continues

Temperatures in Death Valley, which runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada and is long the hottest place on Earth, reached 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53.33 degrees Celsius) on Sunday at the aptly named Furnace Creek, the National Weather Service said.

The hottest temperature ever recorded was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 at Furnace Creek, said Randy Ceverny of the World Meteorological Organization.

Temperatures at or above 130 F (54.44 degrees C) have only been recorded on Earth a handful of times, mostly in Death Valley.

A demonstrator protests visitors to Death Valley National Park, Sunday, July 16, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. Death Valley’s brutal temperatures come amid a blistering stretch of hot weather that has put roughly one-third of Americans under some type of heat advisory, watch or warning. (AP Photo/John Locher) Photograph: John Locher/AP

Ceverny said in an email:

With global warming, such temperatures are becoming more and more likely to occur.

Long-term: Global warming is causing higher and more frequent temperature extremes. Short-term: This particular weekend is being driven by a very very strong upper level ridge of high pressure over the Western U.S.

Furnace Creek is an unincorporated community within Death Valley National Park. It’s home to the park’s visitor centre, which includes a digital thermometer popular with tourists. On Sunday afternoon, dozens of people gathered at the thermometer — some wearing fur coats as a joke — hoping to snap a picture with a temperature reading that would shock their friends and family.

A woman poses by a thermometer, Sunday, July 16, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. The thermometer is not official but is a popular photo spot. Death Valley’s brutal temperatures come amid a blistering stretch of hot weather that has put roughly one-third of Americans under some type of heat advisory, watch or warning. (AP Photo/John Locher) Photograph: John Locher/AP

That digital thermometer hit 130 degrees at one point on Sunday, but it’s not an official reading. The National Weather Service said the highest temperature recorded on Sunday was 128 F (53.3 C) — a high that was unlikely to be surpassed as the sun went down.

The heat wave is just one part of the extreme weather hitting the U.S. over the weekend, as human-caused climate change continues to drive more frequent and more deadly disasters.

- with AP

Newspapers across the globe reporting on climate crisis

Reporter Simon Evans has collated newspaper front pages published this week from across the globe, as Earth recorded its hottest week on record. Here is just a small selection:

The Washington Post writes there are “alarms for a planet on the edge” amid flooding, fires and lethal heat:

Die Presse in Austria warns of “the risks of record heat”:

Le Monde in France details the extreme heat by writing, “The suffocating summer of an overheated planet”:

And the United Kingdom’s FT Weekend Magazine warns, “Fire World: Fighting for survival, and hope, on a permanently hotter planet”:

United States special envoy on the climate visits China for talks

As China prepares for tropical storm Talim to make landfall as a typhoon in the south of the country tonight, the United State’s special envoy on climate, John Kerry, has arrived in China for talks on climate change.

Pictured below with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing, Kerry will spend four days in China in an effort to revive efforts to combat global warming.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua before a meeting in Beijing, China July 17, 2023. Photograph: Valerie Volcovici/Reuters

It comes after weeks of record-breaking heat across the northern hemisphere. Human-caused climate change is making heatwaves across the globe more intense and more likely to happen.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry attends a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing, China July 17, 2023. Photograph: Valerie Volcovici/Reuters

Earth facing ‘unprecedented’ sea surface temperatures, UN agency says

Global sea surface temperatures (SST) reached a new record anomaly on Sunday.

The global SST of 20.98°C (69.76°F) is a record 0.638°C hotter than the 1991-2020 mean.

This comes as the world recorded its hottest week on record – following the hottest June on record. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Earth is facing “unprecedented” SST’s and record low Antarctic sea ice extent.

The specialised agency of the United Nations said:

The record-breaking temperatures on land and in the ocean have potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment.

They highlight the far-reaching changes taking place in Earth’s system as a result of human-induced climate change.

Firefighter dies from injuries sustained battling Canadian wildfire

A firefighter has died from an injury sustained while battling a wildfire in Canada‘s Northwest Territories, becoming the second firefighter killed in recent days as blazes continue to burn in parts of the country, authorities said on Sunday.

With about 24 million acres (10 million hectares) already burned across the country, Canada is on track for its worst wildfire season on record, with blazes also raging in large swathes of eastern Canada.

With about 24 million acres (10 million hectares) already burned across the country, Canada is on track for its worst wildfire season on record, with blazes also raging in large swathes of eastern Canada. Photograph: BC Wildfire Service/AFP/Getty Images

The firefighter, who died on Saturday, was from the town of Fort Liard, the Northwestern Territories government said. It did not provide the firefighter’s name. Another firefighter died on Thursday in British Columbia in a separate wildfire.

- via Reuters

'Unfathomable conditions' at Persian Gulf International Airport

In case you missed it on Sunday: The Persian Gulf International Airport in Iran has reported a heat index of 152°F (66.7°C).

Colin McCarthy from US Stormwatch said:

Those are intolerable conditions for human/animal life.

The combination of a 104°F (40°C) air temperature and brutal humidity (90°F dew point) generated by the Persian Gulf, the hottest sea on Earth, has created these unfathomable conditions.

Talim forecast to hit southern China as a typhoon late Monday

Severe tropical storm Talim is forecast to make landfall as a typhoon in the south of China on Monday night, the country’s weather forecaster said, with local authorities cancelling flights, recalling ships and warning residents to stay home.

China Meteorological Administration issued an orange alert for Talim on Monday, saying the storm was expected to increase in intensity into a severe typhoon by the time it made landfall along the southern coast from Guangdong to Hainan.

A man walks past a shopping mall with masking tape in Tseun as a precaution for the approaching Typhoon Talim in Hong Kong on July 16, 2023. Photograph: May James/AFP/Getty Images

China has a four-tier colour-coded weather warning system under which orange is the second highest alert. Talim is set to be the fourth typhoon this year but the first to make landfall in China, according to weather predictions.

Early on Monday, the meteorological centre said Talim was located 375km (230 miles) south-east of Zhanjiang City in Guangdong province, moving at a speed of 20km per hour (12 miles per hour).

Markets in Hong Kong halted trade for the day as its observatory put in place storm signal No. 8 for Talim, while all court hearings in the city were adjourned.

The meteorological centre forecast gale force winds in the seas near the southern provinces and regions and exceptionally heavy rains of 250-280mm (9.8-11 inches) in the southwestern coast of Guangxi and northern Hainan Island.

Hainan’s Marine Forecasting Station also warned of waves of up of six metres (20 feet) south of the tourist island, Xinhua reported.

Boats are parked at a typhoon shelter in Tseun Wan as a precaution for the approaching Typhoon Talim in Hong Kong on July 16, 2023. Photograph: May James/AFP/Getty Images

Zhuhai Jinwan Airport in Guangdong cancelled 43 inbound and 36 outbound flights on Monday, while Meilan International Airport in Hainan’s capital city Haikou and Qionghai Boao Airport cancelled all flights, state media reported.

Haikou city will also suspend classes, work, flights, park and business activities from noon Monday, requiring residents to stay home and opening emergency shelters to the public, state television CCTV reported.

- via Reuters

South Korea flood death toll rises to 39 as Yoon orders all-out effort

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a disaster response meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, to deal with torrential rains hitting the country and minimize possible damage. Photograph: YONHAP/EPA

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered on Monday an all-out effort to handle the devastation caused by days of torrential rain, as the death toll grew to 39 on Monday, including a dozen people found dead in a submerged underpass.

The rains have pummelled the country’s central and southern regions since Thursday, as the rainy season starting in late June reaches its peak, with the interior ministry also reporting nine people missing and 34 injured.

Rescue workers pump water out of a flooded underground tunnel in the town of Osong, North Chungcheong Province, central South Korea, as they search for missing people who are believed to have been submerged inside the tunnel after a nearby river overflowed due to heavy rain on 15 July. Photograph: YONHAP/EPA

Among the casualties, 12 deaths occurred in a tunnel in the central city of Cheongju, where some 16 vehicles, including a bus, were swamped by a flash flood on Saturday after a levee of a nearby river collapsed. Nine others were hurt.

Yoon convened an intra-agency meeting on disaster response and called for authorities to make the utmost effort to rescue victims and vowed support for recovery work, including designating affected areas as special disaster zones.

Extreme rainfall is more common and more intense because of human-caused climate change across most of the world, because warmer air can hold more water vapour.

You can read the latest here:

- with Reuters

Welcome summary

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the extreme heat gripping large parts of the planet. I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be following the latest as Southern Europe braces for a second heat storm in a week while in America, more than 100 million people swelter under extreme heat advisories, with record-breaking heat expected to continue. Meanwhile there are deadly floods in South Korea and heat warnings in Japan.

Here is where things stand:

• Italy, Greece and Spain, along with Morocco and other Mediterranean countries, have been told temperature records could be broken on Tuesday.

• A new anticyclone that pushed into the region from north Africa on Sunday could lift temperatures above the record 48.8C (120F) seen in Sicily in August 2021, and follows last week’s Cerberus heatwave.

• Temperatures in Rome are poised to climb to 42C or 43C on Tuesday. Nighttime temperatures remain above 20C, making it a struggle for people to sleep.

• On the Canary island of La Palma, more than 4,000 people were evacuated from properties after a forest fire swept through the north-west of the island.

• In the US there were advisories from coast to coast on the weekend, with the south-west and parts of the west hard hit and officials warning that conditions could get worse in Arizona, California and Nevada.

• In Phoenix, Arizona, the forecast for Sunday was for 118F (47.7C) and it was expected to be the city’s 17th consecutive day of 110F (43.3C) or higher.

• Emergency room doctors in Las Vegas have been treating more people for heat illness as the heatwave threatened to break the city’s all-time record high of 117F (47.2C).

• The hot, dry conditions sparked a series of blazes in southern California south-east of Los Angeles.

• In Japan, authorities issued heatstroke alerts to tens of millions of people in 20 of its 47 prefectures as near-record high temperatures scorched large areas and torrential rain pummelled other regions. Japan’s highest temperature ever - 41.1C first recorded in Kumagaya city in 2018 - could be beaten, according to the meteorological agency.

• In South Korea, nine people died in a flooded tunnel, after heavy rains for the last four days triggered floods and landslides that killed at least 37 people and left nine missing. The country is at the peak of its summer monsoon season, with more rain forecast through Wednesday.

• China on Sunday issued several temperature alerts, warning of 40-45C in the partly desert region of Xinjiang, and 39C in southern Guangxi region.

• The human-caused climate crisis is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving more frequent and more deadly disasters, from heatwaves to floods to wildfires.