This archive report was first published on 18 July 2019.
Published on July 18, 2019, a severe heat wave is gripping two-thirds of the United States, with temperatures reaching sauna-like levels. While ordinary people are canceling outdoor activities, Democratic presidential candidates continue to campaign in the sweltering heat.
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota marched three miles over the weekend, while Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., attended a forum on gun violence earlier this week. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is expected to attend an AARP forum in Sioux City.
However, the heat is taking a toll on local communities. Steven Rogers, director of operations for Eastern Iowa Elite, a middle-school football club, has canceled two football practices and moved the team tryouts indoors due to the extreme heat.
"You can't really expect the kids to perform at the highest level if they are outside in this heat, beyond the fact that it's totally dangerous," Rogers said. "There have been a couple of kids having some pretty bad health issues related to heat and overexertion. It's just not safe."
Is this heat wave caused by climate change? ¶
While hot weather is not new in July, climate change is making heat waves like this one more common. According to Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring branch of the National Centers for Environmental Information, climate change is bringing together the meteorological ingredients that make heat waves more frequent.
The 2018 National Climate Assessment notes that the number of hot days is increasing, and the frequency of heat waves in the United States jumped from an average of two per year in the 1960s to six per year by the 2010s. The season for heat waves has also stretched to be 45 days longer than it was in the 1960s.
It's all part of an overall warming trend: The five warmest years in the history of accurate worldwide record-keeping have been the last five years, and 18 of the 19 warmest years have occurred since 2001. Worldwide, June was the hottest ever recorded.
Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, noted that the jet stream, which generally helps to move weather systems across the country, has been unusually wavy in June and early July. This can lead to conditions like heat waves stalling in place.
