Scorching heat claims lives of more than 100 in June, says Mexico government

Searing heat in Mexico has claimed the lives of more than 100 people in the month of June, the government said in a statement, after a series of heatwaves rattled the nation.

According to scientists, global warming is aggravating adverse weather conditions in the world with many countries battling with soaring temperatures.

As per the figures released by the health ministry on Wednesday, nearly 1,000 heat-related emergencies were reported in Mexico between June 12 and 25, of which 104 resulted in deaths.

Meanwhile, the authorities had already reported eight deaths between April 14 and May 31, taking the death toll to 112.

The cause of the deaths was reported as heat stroke, followed by dehydration, as per the health ministry.

With 64 deaths in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon and 19 in neighbouring Tamaulipas, Mexico's northern regions reported the most fatalities.

The health ministry said that in Mexico, a maximum temperature of 49 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) was recorded this week in the northwestern state of Sonora.

It added that the average maximum temperatures in Mexico during the summer fluctuate between 30 and 45 degrees Celsius.

Global temperatures rise above average in early June

Preliminary global average temperatures taken at the beginning of June were the warmest on record for the period, said the European Union’s climate monitoring unit, on June 15.

A report by Copernicus, the EU’s observation agency, said that they have noted a “remarkable global warmth” in the first week of June this year. The report cited the data provided by ERA5 which found that the first few days of the month even breached a 1.5 degree Celsius increase when compared with pre-industrial times.

The report suggests that this might be the first time this breach of high temperature had occurred in the industrial era. “Global-mean surface air temperatures for the first days of June 2023 were the highest in the ERA5 data record for early June by a substantial margin,” said the report, with the data collection going back as far as 1950.”

The temperature recorded in early June is also nearly one degree Celsius above levels previously recorded for the same month back in 1979. “The world has just experienced its warmest early June on record, following a month of May that was less than 0.1°C cooler than the warmest May on record,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Deputy Director Samantha Burgess.

(With inputs from agencies)

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