A woman sprays her children with a water hose during a heat wave outside his home in the al Fadhil neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/ Hadi Mizban)
Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field said, “A record like this is another piece of evidence for the now massively supported proposition that global warming is pushing us into a hotter future.”
Daily global temperatures reached an unofficial record high multiple times this week, according to at least one metric, and caused communities around the planet to take drastic measures to help people beat the heat.
A work stoppage in Beijing stretched into this week after a string of days where temperatures were higher than 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
In North Grenville, Ontario, the city repurposed hockey rinks into cooling centers as temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and felt like 38 degrees (100 degrees Fahrenheit) with humidity.
And the National Weather Service in the United States has issued heat advisories for a large swath of the continental U.S., reported a number of heat-related hospitalizations in Austin and San Antonio in Texas and recorded record-breaking temperatures in cities including Portland, Oregon, Tampa, Florida and El Paso, Texas.
Photographers for The Associated Press captured how people all over the world endured — and in some cases suffered from — the heat.
People dove into bodies of water in Ukraine, Turkey and Spain. Tourists in Rome and a man in Manila shielded themselves from the sun using umbrellas. A security guard in Beijing and a construction worker in Nashville wiped sweat from their faces on days when the temperature was over 100 degrees.
And climate scientists told the AP that the record-setting heat is poised to continue as the planet keeps warming. Commenting on the global temperature highs earlier this week, Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field said, “A record like this is another piece of evidence for the now massively supported proposition that global warming is pushing us into a hotter future.”
A Kashmiri man cools off at a stream on a hot summer day on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, July 4, 2023. (Photo: AP/Mukhtar Khan)A woman uses a fan to cool a child as they sit on a bench at Qianmen pedestrian shopping street on a hot day in Beijing, June 29, 2023. (Photo: AP/Andy Wong)People enjoy high tide waves on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Rajanish Kakade)Construction worker Fernando Padilla wipes his face as he works in the heat, June 30, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: AP/George Walker IV)A man uses an umbrella to shield him from the afternoon sun in Manila, Philippines, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Aaron Favila)Visitors wear sun hats and carry umbrellas as they leave the Forbidden City on a hot day in Beijing, June 29, 2023. (Photo: AP/Andy Wong)Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Yonny Hernandez warms up before a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, June 30, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (Photo: AP/Charlie Riedel)Youngster dive into the Bosphorus next to Karakoy ferry terminal on a hot summer day in Istanbul, Turkey, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Francisco Seco)A man dives into the water from a platform at the Tranco reservoir near Beas de Segura, Jaen, in southern Spain, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Paul White)An Indian man stands at the door of his house as waves caused by high tide hits the huts on the shore of the Arabian Sea in Mumbai, India, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Rafiq Maqbool)Zoologist Kris Marshall uses a water canon to help an elephant keep cool from the heat at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas, June 30, 2023. (Photo: AP/LM Otero)Tourists sips cold water as they shelter from a hot sunny afternoon near the Rome's Colosseum, July 5, 2023. (Photo: AP/Gregorio Borgia)A boy uses a national flag to shield from the sun as visitors line up to enter the Forbidden City on a sweltering day in Beijing, July 7, 2023. (Photo: AP/Andy Wong)Tourists take shelter with umbrellas as another one enjoys an ice cream during a hot summer day at the Rome's Spanish Steps, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Alessandra Tarantino)With the city skyline and Burj Khalifa, world's tallest building in background, people enjoy swimming in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, July 5, 2023. (Photo: AP/Kamran Jebreili)A security guard wearing an electric fan on his neck wipes his sweat on a hot day in Beijing, July 3, 2023. (Photo: AP/Andy Wong, File)Lucas Harrington, age 7, cools off in a mister at Kauffman Stadium as temperatures approach 100 degrees fahrenheit before a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Guardians, June 28, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (Photo: AP/Charlie Riedel)A Iraqi woman fans her child during a power outage at their home in Baghdad, Iraq, July 6, 2023. (Photo: AP/Hadi Mizban)A man does a flip while cooling off in the Dnieper River in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 6, 2023. The planet's temperature spiked on Tuesday to its hottest day in decades and likely centuries. (Photo: AP/Jae C. Hong)A man rides a bike on a small road on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, as the sun rises, July 7, 2023. (Photo: AP/Michael Probst)
