Extreme Heat Grips Europe and the United States

Severe heat affected both Europe and the United States. In Spain, the national weather service kept a special heat-wave warning in force, with orange alerts across nine regions and highs near 42 degrees Celsius in Andalusia, Extremadura and the Tagus valley, Euronews reported. It was the second such warning of the summer.

In the United States, The Hindu reported that dangerous heat forced the cancellation of an Independence Day parade in Washington. About 160 million Americans were under major or extreme heat warnings as the country marked its 250th anniversary, according to the National Weather Service. The scale of the warnings points to a broad strain on people and infrastructure across large parts of the country.

Recurring heat of this intensity is a measurable economic factor, not only a public-health event. It raises electricity demand for cooling, reduces productivity in outdoor and industrial work, strains power grids and can damage crops. As these episodes become a regular feature of the northern summer, they become a seasonal cost that energy systems and food markets increasingly have to absorb.