Death surge in US and Canada due to unprecedented heatwave: Current Affairs Special Series

Team Adda247 and BankersAdda are here with a Current Affairs Special Series. In this series, candidates will be introduced to current affairs topics daily, which will not only improve their general awareness but also will ensure that the candidates do not lack in any current affairs topic. Today’s Current Affairs topic is Death surge in US and Canada due to unprecedented heatwave.

Death surge in US and Canada due to unprecedented heatwave

A heatwave that smashed all-time high-temperature records in western Canada and the Northwest U.S. has left hundreds dead in its wake. In British Columbia, at least 486 sudden deaths were recorded over five days, nearly three times the usual number that would occur in the province over that period. 

Many people have died in Canada amid an unprecedented heatwave. Police in the Vancouver area has reported more than 130 sudden deaths last 6 days. Mostly elderly or had underlying health conditions, with the heat often a contributing factor.

The heat dome which is a weather phenomenon that trapping heat and blocking other weather systems from moving in has weakened as it moved east, but was still intense enough to set records from Alberta to Manitoba, according to senior climatologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, a government agency. 

Canada broke its temperature record for a third straight day at 49.6 degrees Celsius in Lytton, British Columbia. The US northwest has also witnessed record highs and a number of fatalities. The heat over western parts of Canada and the US has the effect of a dome of static high-pressure hot air stretching from California to the Arctic territories. 

Temperatures have been relieving in coastal areas but there is a little immediate respite for inland regions. Experts say climate change is expected to accelerate the frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. However, connecting any single event to global warming is complicated.