More than a thousand people died in Makkah
Last Monday, Mecca, Saudi Arabia recorded a temperature of 51.8 degrees Celsius. A new record for this holy city which welcomes millions of devotees on pilgrimage every year. According to the latest count by Agence France-Presse, 1,081 deaths among pilgrims due to heat have been recorded so far. Heat-related deaths during the Mecca pilgrimage have been recorded in the past, but scientists warn that they are likely to increase in the coming years. A Saudi study published in May 2024 suggests that temperatures at different holy sites will increase by 0.4 degrees every 10 years. According to a G20 report, the frequency of agricultural droughts in Saudi Arabia will increase by 88% by 2050.
Photo by Fedel Senna, Agence France-Presse Archives
A member of the Saudi security forces helps a man suffering from extreme heat
India is stifling
While summers in India are usually hot and humid, this year’s temperatures have broken new records in the most populous country on the planet. At the end of May, the capital New Delhi set a new record with a temperature of 49.9 degrees Celsius. The recent heat wave that started in mid-May was the longest ever recorded in India. According to a report by the New Delhi-based Scientific and Environmental Research Group, the country will witness extreme weather on 90% of its days by 2023.
Photo by Manish Swaroop, Associated Press Archives
A driver sleeps inside a rickshaw parked in the shade of a tree in New Delhi.
270 million Americans are hot
Like Quebec, many parts of the United States are facing a heat wave this week. About 270 million Americans experienced temperatures above 32°C in the central and eastern parts of the country. Portland, Maine, recorded a high of 34 degrees Celsius on Thursday. According to the Climate Shift Index, an online tool for assessing the impact of climate change, these conditions indicate “a dominant influence” on the port city. And the heat wave that hit the United States, Mexico and Central America in late May and early June was 35 times more likely to be caused by climate change, according to a study released Thursday by the World Weather Attribution Network.
Photo by Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel archives, provided by Reuters
A construction worker wipes off his sweat in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
An early heat wave in Greece
After experiencing its warmest winter, Greece experienced the first heat wave ever recorded in this country. Several tourists have been found dead in recent days, killed by the extreme heat, officials say. Firefighters are fighting forest fires in many parts of the country. According to Greek researchers, Greece is expected to see 15 to 20 more days of extreme heat by 2050. In Athens, for example, the number of heat waves is expected to increase from 1.4 to at least 6 episodes per year in the next 25 years, Dianeosis Research Institute estimates.
Photo by Petros Gianakouris, Associated Press
Tourists walk with umbrellas in front of the Parthenon in central Athens.
Registration for Renewable… and Fossil Energies
While the demand for renewable energy has set a new record in 2023, the use of fossil fuels has also reached a new mark, emitting 40 billion tons of CO.2 atmosphere, the Energy Agency announced Thursday. “In a year in which the contribution of renewable energy reached a new record, the steady increase in global energy demand, the share of fossil fuels remained almost unchanged for another year,” KPMG’s Simon Whirley told the British newspaper. Guardian. The report notes that demand for fossil fuels appears to have plateaued in rich countries, but continues to rise in the Global South.
Photo by Tamir Khalifa, New York Times Archives
Exxon Mobile Baytown Olefins plant in Baytown, Texas
With Agence France-Presse
