Heatwave continues in US as records broken for second day running

Hot temperatures across North America broke records for a second day running on Monday as an unprecedented heatwave swept the region.

Seattle hit highs of 42C by mid-afternoon, surpassing Sunday's all-time high of 40C, while Portland, Oregon, reached 46C.

The temperatures were unheard of in a region better known for rain, and where June has historically been referred to as ‘Juneuary’ for its drizzly conditions.

Seattle's average high temperature in June is around 21C and fewer than half of the city's residents have air conditioning, according to US Census data.

The heat forced schools and businesses to close to protect workers and guests, including some places like outdoor pools and ice cream shops where people seek relief from the heat.

Covid testing sites and mobile vaccination units were out of service, while the Seattle Parks Department closed one indoor community pool after the air inside became too hot.

The heatwave was caused by what meteorologists described as a dome of high pressure over the north-west and worsened by human-caused climate change, which is making such extreme weather events more likely and more intense.

Zeke Hausfather, a scientist at the climate-data nonprofit Berkeley Earth, said that the Pacific Northwest has warmed by about 1.7C in the past half-century.

He said: “In a world without climate change, this still would have been a really extreme heatwave. This is worse than the same event would have been 50 years ago, and notably so.”

The blistering heat exposed a region with infrastructure not designed for it, hinting at the greater costs of climate change to come.

In Portland, light rail and street car service was suspended as power cables melted and as the heat strained the power grid.

Heat-related expansion caused road pavement to buckle or pop loose.

Workers in tanker trucks in Seattle were hosing down drawbridges with water at least twice a day to keep them cool to prevent the steel from expanding in the heat and interfering with their opening and closing mechanisms.

In many cities in the region, officials opened cooling centres, including one in an Amazon meeting space in Seattle capable of holding 1,000 people.

Officials also reminded residents where pools, splash pads and cooling centres were available and urged people to stay hydrated, check on their neighbours and avoid strenuous activities.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.