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The earth is warming up every passing year in an unprecedented way. The sizzling temperatures in the past few weeks in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada and Western United States have scientists baffled. The climate reality that was thought still decades in future has herald into 2021 causing suffering to both humans and marine life alike.

“This week’s sizzling temperatures may herald a climate reality that scientists thought was still decades in the future,” reports NBC News

The heat wave broiled the U.S. West Coast soon after the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada experienced record breaking high temperatures.

The setup for this event was different from what unfolded in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada June 29 to July 2, when countless temperature records were smashed, with Portland, Oregon, hitting an all-time high of 116 degrees and the small town of Lytton in British Columbia setting Canada’s heat record at just over 121.

In the Pacific Northwest heat wave, the high pressure was centered over Oregon and Washington state, an unusual scenario that triggered anomalously high temperatures in a region where most homes and businesses don’t have air conditioning systems.

Silhouette of a man enjoying the cool ocean waves during sunrise, USA

But the situation was different in the U.S. West coast. The dome of pressure was over the Four Corners region, where the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico all touch, according to the National Weather Service. 

Today, our guest writer recounts her experience surviving the heat wave with her family in the Pacific Northwest. Japjeet was aware of the outlandish heat wave that was going to engulf her neighborhood. But it turned out to be much severe than what was expected.

“The predictions seemed completely outlandish,” said O’Neill, an associate professor at Oregon State University. “They were so crazy insane that professional forecasters and people like myself thought something must be wrong with the models.”

As it turned out, the forecasts were right.

A seagull flying over the ocean waves.

Heat wave killed an estimated 1 billion sea creatures, and scientists fear even worse in the Pacific Northwest region.

Read Surviving the calamitous heat wave by Japjeet Dugal.

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