We’re officially in an El Niño year, and as predicted, it’s a scorcher.
Record temperatures are already being recorded around the world, from the streets of New York to the icy shelves of the Antarctic. Even the surface waters of the world’s waterways are under unprecedented stress from the heat, with the average global ocean temperature breaking the all-time record high for the month of June.
The human impact, as predicted, is already staggering. While the heat waves currently baking North America, South Asia, South America and Africa are sure to have their fair share of tragedy, early reporting on weather-related fatalities across Europe makes it clear that these are no ordinary summer conditions.
According to El Pais, June heat has culminated in over 1,000 excess deaths in Spain, 623 of which came as a direct result of Europe’s June heatwave.
