Another day of extreme heat is sweeping across the United States on Friday, and daily high temperature records were broken Thursday in several cities, including Phoenix at 119 degrees Fahrenheit and Imperial, California, at 118 F.
About 84 million people are under heat advisories. Parts of California, Oregon and Idaho previously unaffected by the month-long heat wave are now included in the advisories.
Phoenix is forecast to continue its current streak of 22 days of consecutive recorded daily high temperatures above 110 F.
He National Metereological Service He said he anticipates high temperatures to continue through the weekend in much of the Southwest, concentrated in the region around Phoenix and Las Vegas.
In parts of the South, Southeast, and the Gulf Coast, high temperatures and humidity will combine through Sunday to create widespread heat that feels more like 105-110 F.
In Europe, where cities in Spain, France and Italy broke Record high temperatures this week, the extreme heat is also expected to continue through the weekend. On Sunday, temperatures in Athens, Greece are forecast to hit 108 F, and Antalya, Turkey is expected to hit 111 F.
Climate scientists who study heat waves report that their frequency and duration has increased since the 1960s.
In its most recent assessment, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found with virtual certainty that changing patterns of extreme heat are driven primarily by excess heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a phenomenon that has caused recent anthropogenic global warming.