100M Americans Set to Face Potentially Historic Heat Wave

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Facts

• According to the US National Weather Service (NWS), over 100M Americans across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic will face 'record-breaking' heat this week.¹
• States including Vermont, Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania, will face temperatures 20-25°F above normal for June. Extreme heat warnings for temperatures above 90°F (32.2°C)— with heat indexes extending over 100°F (37.7°C)—have been issued across a region spanning the Great Lakes to New York City and Boston.²
• The Pennsylvania cities of Allentown, Philadelphia, and Reading are set to face five consecutive days over 95°F, which hasn't been experienced in those areas since July 2022, July 2011, and August 1953.³
• New York is expected to face 90°F temperatures by Tuesday, peaking at 95°F on Thursday and Friday. The NWS said the heat index could read 100°F-105°F in parts of NYC, northern New Jersey, and southern Connecticut, with little wind to cool things off.⁴
• This type of heat wave is known as a 'heat dome,' where the air is trapped in place and continuously baked by daily sunshine, meaning temperatures remain high even at night. Humidity will also increase the heat index, with Chicago set to feel like it's 105°F.²
• This follows record-breaking heat in the Southwest over the weekend, including 112°F on Saturday in Phoenix and about 99°F in the Chavez County plains of New Mexico on Sunday, before jumping to 107°F on Monday.⁵

Sources: ¹Independent, ²CNN, ³FOX Weather, ⁴New York Post and ⁵Voice of America.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Guardian. Burning fossil fuels has led to annual record-breaking heat for several years, and what's most troubling is that heat-related deaths are rising as well. Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid these lethal heat waves. Searing heat is a hazard that scientists most definitively tie to human-caused climate change. This climate emergency can only be stopped if human behavior changes.
• Narrative B, as provided by UnHerd. The media keeps sensationalizing natural disaster stories so people think the world is on fire. What they don't include is that natural disaster deaths have actually dropped by 92% since their peak in the 1920s. Thanks to human ingenuity, carbon emissions are also predicted to decline in both rich and poor countries in the coming decade, protecting people from severe weather. This is vital missing context from the climate debate.

Predictions