The whole world was "scorching hot" last week.
Over the past week, record-breaking temperatures have been recorded around the world, with weather maps showing the entire planet bathed in a vibrant red hue.
 |
| The map shows the weather for the past week. Photo: WASHINGTON POST |
According to the newspaper.Washington PostOver the past week, from summer-blooming regions of Ireland, Scotland, and Canada to scorching hot areas in the Middle East, and many other places across the northern hemisphere, record-breaking temperatures have been recorded. The heat caused roads to crack in England, while the Scottish town of Motherwell reached an all-time high of 33.2°C. France's Meteo France weather agency issued an orange weather alert across the country, and the Middle Eastern nation of Oman recorded the world's hottest nighttime temperature.
 |
| The village of Tirril in Cumbria, England, experienced a record-breaking heatwave that caused the asphalt to melt and stick to the soles of pedestrians' shoes. Photo: ABC News |
The situation is likely to worsen further as meteorologists warn that extreme high temperatures will continue to plague the Northern Hemisphere, potentially leading to suffocating conditions in the near future.
Scientists believe the scale of the unusually hot weather this past week is due to global warming. "Summers are getting hotter," said Friederike Otto, a scientist at Oxford University who studies heatwaves in Europe.
"If we do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the kind of extreme temperatures we're seeing this summer will be commonplace by the time my son reaches adulthood," Otto shared.
Heatwaves are not a new extreme weather phenomenon. However, climate scientist Blair Feltmate of the University of Waterloo says the duration and extremity of these events are linked to climate change. Feltmate added that globally, the average annual temperature worldwide has been 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was a century ago.
 |
| Global heatwave in numbers - Photo: Global News |
