Experts expect “unprecedented” temperatures this century

The northwestern regions of the United States and western Canada have witnessed record temperatures, in recent days, reaching 49.5 degrees Celsius at times, causing hundreds of fires and deaths and forcing the residents of a small village in Canada to flee from it.

New Yorkers have been asked not to use high-powered appliances, such as washers, dryers, and even air conditioners, in order to relieve stress on power grids.

CNN said Canada and other areas of the northern hemisphere were increasingly “uninhabitable”.

Other regions around the world from Russia, India and Iraq also experienced similar waves.

Liz Bentley, chief executive of the UK’s Royal Meteorological Society, told CNN that the great high pressure we’re seeing is “a result of the jet stream” (the fast-moving air currents that occur at high altitudes).

The expert explained that the formation of the jet stream prevents weather systems from moving efficiently along their natural path from west to east, which led to the occurrence of “unprecedented” temperatures that broke records, not only by a few degrees, but completely smashed them.

Nikos Christidis, a meteorologist at Britain’s Met Office, told the network that had it not been for human-caused climate change, extreme heat in the northwestern United States or southwestern Canada would have occurred “once every tens of thousands of years”. This happens approximately every 15 years.

He warned that if greenhouse gas emissions continue, they may occur “every year or two by the turn of the next century”, i.e. the year 2100.