Millions of Americans in southeast Texas endured brutally hot conditions on Tuesday without the relief of air conditioning after deadly Tropical Storm Beryl knocked out power to a large portion of the region. Scorching heat also baked much of the Western U.S. and Canada, raising the risk of wildfires.
About 2 million Texas homes and businesses were without electricity, according to Poweroutage.us, as temperatures were reaching above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C) at midday on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
“Without power across much of Southeast Texas in the wake of Beryl, no air conditioning could make for dangerous conditions,” the service said.
The heat wave has also sent temperatures soaring across much of western Canada, increasing the risk of wildfires, said Armel Castellan, a meteorologist at Environment Canada.
The federal weather agency issued heat warnings on Tuesday for parts of the Pacific coast province of British Columbia, the main oil-producing province of Alberta, and Saskatchewan in the Canadian prairies.
There were 59 forest fires burning in Alberta and 97 in British Columbia as of Tuesday.
The British Columbia village of Lytton, where 90% of structures burned down in a wildfire in 2021, was the hottest place in Canada at about 2 p.m. (2100 GMT) at 39 C (102 F).
It’s so hot here on the east coast I had to cancel my outdoor plans to hide in the AC. Outdoor music festivals are canceling left and right here, putting a lot of poeple in bad straights as they were counting on the money they make working these events, both vendors and staff, to get them through the summer. Seems no one wants to spend a weekend in a tent when the heat index is over 90 degrees.