US breaks heatwave record in south while battling wildfire smoke plume in north
The United States continued to suffer from extreme heat and wildfire smoke on Tuesday as Arizona broke a heat record and millions across the country were placed under air quality warnings.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix reported a temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit at the city’s airport on Tuesday morning.
‘This is now the 19th straight day with a temperature that reaches or exceeds 110°F, which breaks the previous record of 18 days set back in 1974, nearly 50 years ago,’ the NWS said.
At the same time, the city broke another record after it recorded a low temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit over the night before.
The Arizona city has now faced nine consecutive days where the temperature never fell below 90 degrees, even at night.
Just two days earlier, Phoenix shattered its record-high temperature as thermometers in the desert city rose to 118 degrees Fahrenheit.
The previous record temperature was set at 117 degrees Fahrenheit in July, 1998.
The heatwave currently gripping the southwest is being caused by a ‘heat dome’ detected above the region – an phenomenon that happens when high-pressure atmospheric conditions combine with warm ocean temperatures caused by El Niño.
Meanwhile, smoke from the ongoing wildfires in Canada continues to cloud skies across the country.
A massive smoke plume from the fires was detected on Tuesday, which blanketed much of the Midwest and south with haze.
Although previous smoke clouds have caused by wildfires in Quebec, Tuesday’s smog was caused by blazes in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
The American southeast was hit the hardest, with Atlanta reporting an air quality index of 152 PM2.5, putting the city’s air in the ‘unhealthy’ range.
Similar AQI were detected in North Carolina, with the air quality in Charlotte, Fayetteville, and Greenville determined to be ‘unhealthy.’
The smoke comes at a precarious time for the region, as the heat dome above the southwest is expected to slowly expand north and east over the coming days.
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