CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Here’s what you need to see and know today

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This article was published 23/07/2023 (1184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An intense heat wave has reached Italy, bringing temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many cities across the country. Associated Press photographer Andrew Medichini captured tourists cooling off at a fountain. Many could be seen filling water bottles and waving fans amid crowds.

Wildfires raged in Greece for a sixth day amid high temperatures and dry conditions, requiring the evacuation of some 19,000 people from the island of Rhodes.

Massive floods swept through a village in the Fuyang district of eastern China’s city of Hangzhou on Saturday, leaving at least five people dead and three missing. More than 1,500 residents were evacuated, state media reported.

In western India, hundreds of rescuers searched for a fourth day for people still missing after heavy monsoon rains triggered a massive landslide that killed at least 27, an official said Sunday.

Here’s what’s happening related to extreme weather and the climate right now:

— Sick of hearing about heat records? From the hottest June on record to early July’s searing global average temperatures, Associated Press science writer Seth Borenstein looks at what recent extreme temperature figures tell us about our warming world.

— Temperatures on both sides of U.S.-Mexico border reached blistering highs this week. A volunteer with the Brown Bag Coalition met up with people who are homeless and particularly vulnerable to the heat in the city of Calexico, where it got up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). See the photos by AP photographer Gregory Bull, who spent time documenting life at the border as people found little relief from the scorching sun.

— A year after the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act, America’s most significant response to climate change, it has boosted the U.S. transition to renewable energy, Isabella O’Malley and Michael Phillis report. It accelerated green domestic manufacturing and made it more affordable for consumers to make climate-friendly purchases, such as installing solar panels on their roofs.

—The weather in Phoenix is so hot that cameras stop working, cellphones glitch and no amount of water or Gatorade can keep you going. AP photographer Matt York was surprised to learn after 23 years of experience working in these conditions, he was suffering from heat exhaustion.

QUOTABLE:

“The right to exercise our vote freely is stronger than the heat,” Rosa Maria Valladolid-Prieto, 79, said in Barcelona as Spain held an early general election. On the tail of a month of heat waves, temperatures were expected to average above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and to rise between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius above normal in many parts of Spain on Sunday. Authorities distributed fans at many polling stations.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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