Citizens of the State of Florida woke up this Wednesday with the certainty that they are about to break some kind of record. The primaries held on Tuesday certify that from next year they will have either the first black governor in their history, the Republican Byron Donalds, or the first Democrat in more than 25 years, David Jolly. But this is not the only exceptional situation being experienced in this southeastern state. The southern region of the United States is going through a heat wave like no other in a long time.
On Tuesday, thermometers in Miami reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) for the first time in more than 80 years. There are no records of such a temperature since 1942. The United States National Weather Service (NWS) warns that the southern part of the country will continue to suffer the effects of “a stifling air mass, even by mid or late August standards” in the coming days. About 70 million U.S. citizens, from Texas to South and North Carolina, are affected by this extreme heat wave, which becomes even more unbearable due to the very high humidity.
The NWS announced this Wednesday that the “extreme heat alerts” already in effect in much of the southwestern desert of the United States remain, as well as in areas ranging from the southern plains of the country to the region known as the Deep South, a concept that usually encompasses the entirety of the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, as well as parts of California, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, and Tennessee. “Nighttime minimum temperatures will be so high (around 27 degrees Celsius in some cases) that, combined with stifling dew points, they will barely offer relief from the scorching daytime highs,” the Weather Service continues.
Heat is not the only problem derived from climate change affecting large states in the country. At a time when drought is affecting the heart of Europe, with millions of citizens suffering unprecedented limitations in access to water and with problems in commerce, agriculture, and energy due to the low flow of major rivers, something similar is happening in the southwestern United States. The drought hitting the country has already reached significant levels, raising doubts about water and electricity supply in the medium term. Lakes Powell and Mead, the largest reservoirs in the country, are drying up. Specialists currently see no way out of the water system crisis surrounding the Colorado River, a source of water and electricity for millions of people.
Read more The monument to the emperor who wasn’t worth a damn
On Saturday, the water level in Lake Powell, located on the border between Utah and Arizona, dropped to a historic low, according to The New York Times. A week earlier, Lake Mead — the larger of the two — had reached its lowest point ever recorded. The joint reservoir system had not recorded such low levels since 1957. Climate change has contributed to a drought that has lasted for decades, the worst dry spell in the southwest in at least 1,200 years, according to scientists.
Federal and state authorities have taken emergency measures to try to avoid a catastrophe, such as executing transfers from smaller reservoirs to try to save Lake Powell. They have also made calls for water conservation. According to data collected by the Efe agency from the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the country, is at about 3,500 feet, levels concerning for energy and water supply in the region. A study by this agency conducted in July stated that water reserves in Lake Powell were at risk of dropping to the level considered necessary to generate electricity (about 3,490 feet).
