"It's getting hotter" becomes more than just an expression as the United States experiences record-breaking heat waves. This comes as a wildfire burn resulted in around 30,000 looking for safety on Rhodes island.
Heat Temperatures Rising
According to the story by Phys.org, the intense heat has affected tens of millions of people, with July looking at its hottest temperature ever. With the extreme changes in temperature, experts highlighted how climate change was affected.
Experts say global warming played a huge role in the heat, saying burning fossil fuels contributed greatly to climate change. A situation on the island of Rhodes showed just how bad the situation was, with heat causing fires to last for days.
Phys.org reports how boats around the island of Rhodes carried 2,000 people to safety from beaches while the wildfire burned for days. The evacuation included three coastguard ships and over 30 private vessels.
Resident Evacuations
The officials of the island initially organized dozens of buses to evacuate the people on the island to safety. However, they needed to improvise as the fires resulted in the loss of access to the road.
People had to walk to safety while authorities tried to organize makeshift accommodations while the firefighters tried to handle the situation. People who were evacuated had to stay in gyms, hotels, and hotel conference centers during the crisis.
The foreign ministry in Athens commented on the situation, saying its crisis management unit was activated to help foreign citizens be evacuated. Greece has long been fighting these forest fires, which lasted 11 days as the heat went above 104 Fahrenheit.
A warning from meteorologists suggests that this could be the country's longest hot spell ever.
US Heat Situation
Around 80 Americans across the southern United States will be greatly affected by heat reaching to temperatures of around 105.8 Fahrenheit and above. For example, temperatures of 114.8 Fahrenheit were felt in Pheonix, Arizona.
Phoenix has stayed above 110 Fahrenheit for 22 days straight, per NBC News. Phys.org reports how this resulted in tourists going to Death Valley National Park, showing pictures of the temperature.
NASA lead climatologist Gavin Schmidt says that July 2023 could be the hottest month in centuries, according to Geo.TV. The climate experts saiad that El Nino weather partterns can't be the only reason behind the extreme temperatures, saying the heat was likely to continue due to continual greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere.
There has already been a report of a man in the Evia island, located in central Greece, who succumbed to heatstroke amid the extreme temperatures. The 46-year-old man was admitted to the Chalkida hospital, where staff said that exposure to high temperatures caused him to experience cardio-respiratory failure.
So far, there have been at least 38 heatstroke patients admitted in the past three days, according to Phys.org.
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