For most people living in the U.S. , last summer feel unbearably spicy in a new way — and new statistics onlast year ’s heat wavesback that up . According to federal data analyze by the Washington Postthis calendar week , 80 % of Americans live on in a county that had at least one day of “ abnormally high ” temperature in 2021 .
The statistic is somewhat shameful — but it ’s also right in job with what the clime crisis has in store for us . And when you look back at 2021 , it ’s clear that endless searing heat seemed to slay everywhere , including places not accustomed to such extreme temperature .
The Pacific Northwest bore the lethal brunt of the heat energy . The region watch severalrecord - breakingheatwaves , including one in later June and former July thatkilled hundreds of people in the region(and literallymelted substructure ) . Portland , Oregon , sawat least six Day last summerwhere temperature reached or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit ( 38 degrees Celsius ) ; in a normal year , the metropolis watch just one .
Katherine Morgan drinks water in front of a box fan while trying to stay cool in her downtown apartment without air conditioning on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, in Portland, Oregon.Photo: Nathan Howard (AP)
But other places were n’t safe either . At one stage , in later July , 81 million Americans were under rut watch or warning , as searing temperatures hitbasically every part of the countryexcept New England and the Great Lakes . In New York , city dweller were told in Juneto economise their office as the region recorded 100 - degree - Fahrenheit ( 38 - point - Celsius ) oestrus ; California ’s Death Valley in July recorded a temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit ( 54 point Celsius),a literal worldwide criminal record .
Last yr , the heatdamaged pale yellow cropsin the Midwest , deprived iconic California glaciers of thesnow they postulate to exist , cooked mussels alivein the Pacific Northwest , stimulate an“ice temblor ” in Alaska , helpedworsen the mounting water crisisin the West , and made strangelesions and fungusgrow on Salmon River in Washington . The heat across the U.S. in 2021 broke a longstanding record for hottest summertime , which was set in 1936 , atthe height of the Dust Bowl .
Even the terminal of summer and reaching of “ ice chest ” seasons did n’t bring relief : December 2021 was thehottest December on disc in the U.S.by a wide margin . Kodiak City , Alaska , of all places , see temperatures reach 65 degree Fahrenheit ( 18.3 degrees Celsius)in late December — a temperature that absolutely obliterate the previous December disk by 20 point Fahrenheit ( 11.1 degrees Fahrenheit ) , and also gas past records set in November , January , February , and March .
This is a long tilt to underscore just how extensive , and long - hold out the warmth was last yr . burn fossil fuel has turn up the background temperatures , ensuring that when atmospheric condition patterns setup for a heat wave , they have an special rise that can be dangerous and even pestilent . Research has shownthat poorer neighborhood can be up to 7 stage Fahrenheit ( 4 degrees Celsius ) hotter than wealthier one . The risk that pose wager out in real life this summer ; the multitude whosuffered and diedin the Pacific Northwest heatwaves wereoverwhelminglythe houseless , the elderly , and those without access to steadfast atmosphere conditioning .
That points to the pressing motivation for adapting to heat even as we work to cut emissions . Because if you call back the past twelvemonth was bad , thing will only get worseif fossil fuel manipulation is n’t wound down .
Fahrenheit
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