Extreme heat in Mexico, Central America and parts of the southern United States has left millions of people in sweltering temperatures, strained power grids and caused Mexico’s iconic howler monkeys to fall dead from trees.
Meteorologists say the conditions have been caused by what some call a heat dome: an area of strong high pressure centered over the southern Gulf of Mexico and northern Central America that blocked cloud formation and caused lots of sunshine and high temperatures. temperatures.
This extreme heat occurs in a world that is warming rapidly due to greenhouse gases, which come from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
High temperatures are spreading along the Gulf of Mexico to parts of the United States, including Texas and Florida. The heat comes as thousands of people in Texas remain without power after thunderstorms hit parts of the state last week.
Shawn Bhatti, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s forecast office in Miami, said southerly winds from the tropics transported warm, moist air northward from the equator, contributing to the unusually warm conditions.
South Florida has been warmer than normal. Miami International Airport recorded a daily high of 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35.6 degrees Celsius) on May 19. That topped the 86 to 88 degree temperatures (about 30 degrees Celsius) that Miami typically sees this time of year.
A heat advisory issued by the NWS for parts of Texas went into effect Thursday. Temperatures along the Rio Grande were expected to rise as high as 111 degrees Fahrenheit (43.9 degrees Celsius) and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) in the Davis and Chinati Mountains.
Experts say the heat event raises concerns about ocean water temperatures and their influence on the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season.
The region is transitioning from an El Niño phenomenon, where tropical cyclone activity in the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic typically declines, to a La Niña pattern in which the likelihood of tropical cyclone activity increases, Andrew Kruczkiewicz said. , principal investigator at the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University.
Kruczkiewicz said the extreme heat adds another ingredient to the risk of tropical cyclone activity this season, as these storms are fueled by warm ocean temperatures.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that there is an 85% chance that the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1, will be above average in storm activity.
Mexico’s brutal heat wave has been linked to the deaths of more than two dozen people since March. But the worst is expected at the end of this week and early next week.
Mónica Eréndira Jiménez, from the Mexican Meteorological Service, said that the current heat wave will be one of the longest and most worrying of 2024 because it is affecting the vast majority of the country. In May, more than 46 locations recorded record temperatures.
The situation is especially dire in places like Mexico City, which recorded a record high temperature of nearly 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.3 degrees Celsius) on May 9 and is expected to reach 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) in the coming months. days. In the capital, the heat combines with pollution, which is why ozone concentrations are expected to increase, warned the climate change program of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The impacts on wildlife have shocked scientists, who reported more than 130 howler monkey deaths in the southeastern jungles and increased bird mortality in the northern part of the country, likely due to heat and other factors.
With below-average rainfall across almost the entire country this year, lakes and dams are drying up and water supplies are running out.
The protests have multiplied. A group of police officers blocked six lanes of traffic on Wednesday on a major avenue in Mexico City, claiming that their barracks lacked water for a week and that bathrooms were unusable.
Authorities have had to truck water to hospitals and firefighting equipment.
Low levels at hydroelectric dams have contributed to blackouts in some parts of the country, and this week the country’s largest convenience store chain, OXXO, said it was limiting ice purchases to two or three bags per customer in some places.
The Mexican Meteorological Service predicts another heat wave for June, but it is expected to be shorter and not as severe as this one.
Nearby nations, including Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Haiti, are also experiencing abnormally warm temperatures due to this high pressure area.
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