A searing heat wave has gripped large parts of the US, with record daily high temperatures in Oregon suspected to have caused four deaths in the Portland area following a motorcyclist’s death in dangerous heat over the weekend in Death Valley, California.
More than 146 million people around the US were under heat alerts today, especially in the western states.
California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Idaho were under an excessive heat warning, the National Weather Service’s highest alert, while parts of the East Coast as well as Alabama and Mississippi were under heat advisories.
The global temperature in June was record warm for the 13th straight month and marked the 12th straight month that the world was 2.7 degrees warmer than pre-industrial times, the European climate service Copernicus said.
Meanwhile, in New York, The Third Avenue Bridge connecting the Bronx and Manhattan got stuck in the open position due to heat expansion of the steel.
NBC New York reported crews were spraying water from the river below up onto the bridge in an effort to cool down the steel afternoon as city agencies rushed to cool it down.
