From Europe to Africa, extreme and widespread heat raises climate concerns in hottest La Niña year to date on record
Jonathan WattsFri 13 Jul 2018 16.28 BST
Record high temperatures have been set across much of the world this week as an unusually prolonged and broad heatwave intensifies concerns about climate change.
The past month has seen power shortages in California as record heat forced a surge of demand for air conditioners. Algeria has experienced the hottest temperature ever reliably registered in Africa. Britain, meanwhile, has experienced its third longest heatwave, melting the roof of a science building in Glasgow and exposing ancient hill forts in Wales.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the rising temperatures were at odds with a global cyclical climate phenomena known as La Niña, which is usually associated with cooling.
Recent record temperatures
Denver, US 40.6C
Montreal, Canada 36.6C
Yerevan, Armenia 42C
Tbilisi, Georgia 40.5C
Ouargla, Algeria 51.3C
Tianxiang, Taiwan 40.3C
Saih al-Salem 51.4C
“The first six months of the year have made it the hottest La Niña year to date on record,” said Clare Nullis of the WMO.
Taiwan is the most recent place to report a new high with a temperature of 40.3C in Tianxiang on Monday. This followed a flurry of other anomalies.
Last week, a weather station at Ouargla in Algeria’s Sahara Desert, reported a maximum temperature of 51.3C on 5 July, the highest temperature reliably recorded in Africa.
Even when the sun goes down, night is not providing the cooling relief it once did in many parts of the world. At Quriyat, on the coast of Oman, overnight temperatures remained above 42.6C, which is believed to be the highest “low” temperature ever recorded in the world. Downtown Los Angeles also saw a new monthly July minimum overnight record of 26.1C on 7 July.