More heat is forecast for the Southwest.
More heat is forecast for the Southwest.
Gator-Aid is the name of a new mutual assistance club that consists of six people. On Sunday afternoon, as the heat consumed Tucson, Arizona, these six volunteers were packing coolers with hundreds of bottles of water and Gatorade while also dropping seven-pound bags of Reddy Ice on the steamy sidewalks.
According to what they have claimed, the organisation has been delivering drinks to the downtown area of Tucson on Sundays for the last month and distributing them to individuals who are in need.
One of the volunteers, Hershey Long, who is 35 years old, stated that “you can see how badly people need it.” “It’s wonderful to see that people can get some relief,” the speaker said.
Within the first forty minutes, there were just four bottles of water left in the whole refrigerator. A little while later, volunteers came back with supplies that had been replenished. They came upon the Tucson Fire Department attending to a patient who was suffering from heat-related sickness. After loading him into an ambulance, the emergency medical personnel covered him with damp cloths.
People all throughout the South and West have been rushing around trying to find respite over the last week, a chore that has the potential to become much more challenging as a fresh wave of heat threatens to settle over the Southwest over the course of the following week.
The “heat dome” of high pressure, which is the source of the heat wave, has settled in over the arid Southwest at this time. More than fifty million people are believed to call the regions of the United States that are forecasted to experience dangerously high temperatures their home.
Over the course of the weekend, a variety of excessive heat warnings and heat advisories were issued for various parts of the region. According to the National Weather Service, the current circumstances in Arizona are “rivalling some of the worst heat waves this area has ever seen.” This statement was made on Friday.
Those who were outside of a comfort dome that had air conditioning had it the hardest. A gathering of many dozens of individuals took place on Sunday in Santa Rita Park, which is located close to the downtown area of Tucson. Others carried their own bottled water with them, while others gathered water from the Gator-Aid organisation.
Joseph Whittaker, who was 51 years old at the time, claimed that every morning at a local soup kitchen he drank three gallons of water.
“I’m dying — I have stage three kidney disease, so I need water more than you,” Mr. Whittaker remarked. “I’m thirstier than you.”
Mateo Calderón, 59 years old and originally from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, is currently residing in Tucson, Arizona, for the second consecutive summer. It costs him two hundred bucks per month to park in the backyard of someone’s house. He either sleeps in his car or, when the temperature is too high, he sleeps on a row of sofa cushions that have been placed on the ground.
He is free to use the shower, the refrigerator and the washbasin within the house at any time. Mr. Calderón elaborated on why it is necessary to stay hydrated by drinking water.
“I used to go to cooling centres, but they’re far,” he remarked last year. “This year, I won’t.” Now, throughout the day, he seeks out places with some shade and focuses on maintaining his water intake.
According to Gabriel Lojero, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, the months of June and July are typically when Arizona has its warmest temperatures, so the occurrence of this heat at this time is not particularly rare. However, he noted that the prolonged presence of extremely high temperatures is a matter for concern.
According to Mr. Lojero, the Weather Service has only recorded nine consecutive days in which temperatures in Arizona have been higher than 110 degrees. In 1974, the state saw the longest stretch in which it had 18 days in a row with temperatures higher than 110 degrees.
Mr. Lojero stated that, “Looking at the current forecasts that we have, we’re forecasting temperatures at least 110 or above for at least the next seven to eight days and potentially longer,” and he went on to say that this streak has the potential to surpass the 18-day record for the longest consecutive period of extremely high temperatures.
Another meteorologist working for the National Weather Service in Arizona named Isaac Smith said that “we’re going to be looking at these very hot temperatures continuing through the next week.” He went on to say that forecasts from the Weather Service indicate that daily maximum temperatures will continue to be at or above 110 degrees. “That’s pretty significant for us,” Mr. Smith said. “That’s pretty significant for us.” “Even for Phoenix standards.”
Mr. Smith continued by saying that people should absolutely protect themselves from the heat by taking the necessary safeguards. People in the United States need to bear in mind that heat-related illnesses and deaths account for the majority of those caused by the weather.
According to a study that was published by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health a month ago, there were 425 deaths in the county that were connected with heat in 2022. This number represents a 25 percent increase from the previous year. According to the research, more than half of the deaths that were connected with heat happened during the month of July, and 107 of those deaths occurred on days when there was a warning for high heat.
Despite this, folks across the area are figuring out how to get by and determining how much of the heat experienced this year is exceptional and how much of it is typical of July in the South and Southwest.
