By: Max Cao

On June 18th, a heat wave covered the world in an iron grasp. The governments of the countries hit are working to protect their people from the worst of the heat; many governments have set up “cooling centers” in order to do this.

The New York Times has reported that 27 areas in the U.S have either matched or beaten their highest temperatures ever. The U.S National Weather Service encourages people in these areas to avoid going outdoors unless needed, as well as stating that over 1 million Americans are currently being affected by these dangerous temperatures.

A few countries in Europe are experiencing their second heat wave this year. In May, a few parts of southern France’s average temperature was 17ºC higher than normal. Spain’s temperature reached up to 43ºC! Spain hasn’t had this kind of extreme weather experience for at least two decades.

Pakistan has had similar temperatures, only even worse due to power cuts from their fuel shortage. Since March, six heat waves have hit New Delhi, India’s capital. In the worst of those, the highest temperature was 49ºC. In both countries rain should be coming, which will be a relive for it will cool things down a bit.

In 1992, five villages in Galicia, Spain were flooded on purpose because a river was dammed to make space for a reservoir. But now, because of the heat wave, one of these villages had been revealed, coming out of the water like a ghost city.