Heat and Heat Waves

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      After Hajj Deaths, Egypt Suspends 16 Companies

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      The action against 16 tour companies came as governments look into whether many travelers were not properly registered to make the journey into the desert.After hundreds of pilgrims died in the scorching desert heat during the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, the Egyptian government announced on Saturday that it had suspended the licenses of 16 tour companies that had facilitated travel for some pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.At least 450 people have died during this year’s pilgrimage, in which travelers endured maximum temperatures that ranged from 108 degrees to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (42 to 49 degrees Celsius). But the actual number of fatalities is expected to climb as governments get more accurate tallies of the deaths. (Egypt, for one, has officially acknowledged only 31 deaths.)In announcing the suspension of the 16 travel companies, the Egyptian government said the businesses failed to offer the pilgrims important services like medical care. It said the companies did not provide the pilgrims with “appropriate accommodation,” which caused them to suffer from “exhaustion due to the high temperatures.”Reuters reported that some travel agencies may not have officially registered for the pilgrimage, to get around the high costs of package tours. And, Reuters said, companies were being blamed for letting pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia on personal visas, rather than hajj visas, which provide access to medical care and the holy sites.Mahmoud Qassem, a member of Egypt’s Parliament, said the travel companies “left the pilgrims stranded and turned off their mobile phones” so they could not hear the travelers’ calls for help.There were also complaints that pilgrims were not given access to enough cooling stations or water amid the intense heat.The number of unregistered visitors — in addition to the intense desert heat — could have left Saudi Arabia unprepared for dealing with such a large influx of people.Tunisia’s government has said that the death toll of pilgrims from that country was expected to rise from the 49 reported on Friday, as the number of people traveling on tourist visas became more clear.The hajj has been the site of several tragedies, including a stampede in 2015 that killed more than 2,200 people. In recent years, with rising temperatures, many pilgrims have also succumbed to heat stress.The Saudi government has said that during this year’s hajj, more than 1.8 million Muslims traveled to Mecca, 1.6 million of them from outside Saudi Arabia.Hager Al-Hakeem contributed reporting from Luxor, Egypt. More

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      Thousands of Michigan Residents Weather Days Without Power During Heat Wave

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      As storms battered southeast Michigan this week, Lindsey Brenz heard trees crashing and saw bright flashes of lightning through her windows. Then, she heard a pop and the monotone drone of what she suspected was a power surge.“I thought, ‘Oh gosh, this is not going to be good,’” she said.Ms. Brenz, 32, was one of 69,000 customers who lost power Wednesday night after powerful storms downed trees and toppled power lines — compounding the effects of an intense heat wave that has scorched the Midwest and other areas of the country.Three days after the outage, about 7,000 customers are still without power, according to DTE Energy, a Detroit-based utilities company that serves the area. Detroit has suffered temperatures in the 90s since the heat wave began on Monday. The heat index, a measure of how conditions feel with humidity factored in, reached 95 degrees on Saturday afternoon.Ms. Brenz’s biggest concern was keeping herself and her cat, Bubba, safe from the sweltering conditions during the outage. She closed her windows, drew the blinds and refrained from showering to keep her house in Berkley cool.“It was the little things I had to be aware of to keep me and my cat safe,” said Ms. Brenz, who works for a nonprofit.Deb Dworkin, a 52-year-old human resources manager, lives in a bungalow in Berkley. She said her upstairs bedroom got “crazy hot” during the outage. She slept on her couch for two days, using a battery-powered travel fan and a neck towel filled with ice cubes.“I probably looked ridiculous,” she said.Michael Reiterman, a 25-year-old assistant financial planner who lives in New Baltimore, tried similar remedies in his home, including shutting the blinds to keep out the heat. But his ultimate solution was to shuttle between his home, which had outages intermittently, and his fiancée’s house, which maintained power through the week.The country has so far been spared widespread blackouts amid the heat wave, which heightened demand for electricity and put pressure on the grid’s infrastructure. Experts say that’s a promising sign that the grid will be able to handle intense heat waves later in the summer.But the difficulties faced by the Michigan residents demonstrate the risks of power outages that coincide with heat waves — regardless of whether the outages are caused directly by the heat.To help mitigate those risks, DTE Energy is planning to invest about $9 billion over the next five years to “harden” the grid to weather the effects of climate change, said Brian Calka, vice president of the company’s distribution operations business unit. “The weather patterns that we’re seeing right now are fundamentally different from what we’ve seen in recent memory,” he said. “It’s a call to action.”Sophia Lada More

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      Why Was Maine Sweltering?

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      Typically, Maine is a summer destination for people who want to cool off.The state usually boasts average summer temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. So why was Maine, along with New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and other parts of New England, in the heat danger zone this week, with skyrocketing temperatures well into the 90s?Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the cause was a kind of weather system that usually forms farther over the Atlantic Ocean and farther south.The shift of this expansive band of heat toward the coast and farther north helped send temperatures soaring in New England, he said. It was part of a larger “high-pressure aloft” system, a type of phenomena that can produce heat domes.Additionally, descending westerly winds off the mountain ranges in New England helped to further compress the heat into the lower elevations, which meant higher temperatures in many cities, Mr. Orrison added.Now that same band of heat has moved further south and is sitting over New York City.Although high-pressure systems closer to the surface mean fair weather, ones in the atmosphere (the so-called “aloft” systems) can mean days of sustained heat, with little cloud cover to disrupt the power of the sun.As these high-pressure systems weaken, they can create space for low-pressure events to develop, which is why thunderstorms threatened the area yesterday.And then there is climate change. The continued burning of greenhouse gases means that the temperature of the atmosphere is increasing almost everywhere, said Jason Smerdon, a professor at the Columbia Climate School.Though the underlying causes of the most recent heat wave in the Northeast are yet to be determined, he said, the combination of high temperatures and humid conditions created a “double whammy” effect, since a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.“So the ‘feels-like’ temperature from combined heat and humidity made the event particularly severe,” he said. More

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      Unrelenting Heat Stifles Millions of Americans for 3rd Consecutive Day

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      As the heat wave moved east, the Northeast felt the brunt of the conditions. But forecasters provided a glimmer of relief, saying “conditions should improve over New England” this weekend.From the Midwest to the northern tip of Maine, millions of Americans sweltered under a springtime heat wave on Wednesday that stifled the Eastern portion of the United States for a third consecutive day.As the heat wave moved east, the Northeast felt the brunt of the conditions, stemming from a high-pressure system called a heat dome that scorched the Great Lakes region earlier this week.Conditions in a swath of central Maine were particularly brutal, largely because the area was farther from ocean winds, according to Jay Engle, a forecaster at the National Weather Service. The heat index — a measure that includes temperature and humidity to showcase how hot it actually feels — topped 100 degrees in some areas, and temperatures reached as high as 95 degrees in cities like Bangor, Houlton and Millinocket, according to the National Weather Service. In Caribou, in the northeastern tip of the state, it was 96 degrees, tying the highest temperature ever recorded there.More than 78 million people were under heat warnings, watches and advisories on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Heat waves are not uncommon in mid-June, but the Weather Service warned that this one could last longer than some places have experienced in decades. Heat waves are also hotter, more frequent and longer lasting now because of global warming.But forecasters provided a glimmer of relief: Meteorologists at the Weather Prediction Center said in a post on its website that “conditions should improve over New England” this weekend.Still, in many areas, Wednesday felt more like the height of summer than the last full day of spring. Cities and states helped residents deal with the stifling temperatures by opening more cooling centers, moving some Juneteenth celebrations indoors and pushing up opening hours of pools and beaches.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Stay Cool Indoors During the Heat Wave

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      Summer officially starts on Thursday, and this season is predicted to be hotter than normal — a heat wave across the country this week is expected to affect millions of Americans. In New York, the temperature is forecast to reach 96 degrees by Friday. On Monday, Chicago hit a record-breaking 97 degrees.More than just uncomfortable, the heat can be dangerous and at worst deadly, and it’s only becoming more of a threat with climate change causing rising temperatures. Prolonged exposure to or physical exertion in excessive heat can cause heatstroke, according to the Mayo Clinic. Starting Tuesday, cooling centers — indoor, air-conditioned spaces for public use — will be open during the day in New York. The city’s fire department is also turning some fire hydrants into water sprinklers. If you’re staying at home, here’s what you can do to stay as cool as possible indoors, whether you have an AC or not.What’s the ideal temperature for your home?While you should do what feels most comfortable for you, Carrier, an air-conditioner manufacturer, suggests on its website that 72 degrees is the generally accepted “comfortable indoor temperature for many people.” It continues, “It strikes a good balance between comfort and energy efficiency, making it a popular choice for residential settings.”If you’re away from your home, set your thermostat for higher than usual to save energy and to prevent your AC unit from potentially busting. At night, because heat can disrupt sleep, 60 to 67 degrees is recommended by the Cleveland Clinic.How do you keep your furry friends safe?It depends on the animal, and its size and type, but pets are generally less tolerant of higher temperatures than humans.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Deadly Toll in Greece as Heat Waves Sweep the Country

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      Several foreigners have gone missing or been found dead after going out for walks in recent days as temperatures in Greece soar.Heat waves that have swept across Greece this month continued to exact a deadly toll over the weekend, with the authorities on Sunday reporting another death on a Greek island. At least six tourists remain missing on Greek islands.The authorities said that a body of a man had been found Saturday on the island of Samos, where a Dutch hiker has been missing for a week. The body has not yet been identified. Searches were also underway for the six other tourists who have gone missing on Greek islands amid searing temperatures this month.“The problem of missing hikers is not new — we have it every year,” said Constantina Dimoglidou, a police spokeswoman. “But this year, it seems more people became disoriented during the heat wave.”One of the missing was Albert Calibet, 59, a retired police officer who is a dual citizen of France and the United States, on the Aegean island of Amorgos. Mr. Calibet had set out on a trek alone on Tuesday morning, Ms. Dimoglidou said.Also missing were two Frenchwomen, aged 73 and 64, on another Aegean island, Sikinos; an Israeli couple in the area of Vytina in the Peloponnese peninsula; and a 55-year-old United States citizen on the islet of Mathraki near Corfu, the authorities said.The announcements came only days after the remains of Michael Mosley, a British medical journalist and documentary maker, were found on the island of Symi after his disappearance during a walk. At least three other tourists have died while out walking during the extreme heat this month.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Forecast: The East Coast’s First Summer Heat Wave Is on Its Way

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      The abrupt arrival of summer will bring stifling temperatures from Chicago to New York, with little relief overnight.Prepare to sweat on the East Coast through next week. The first heat wave of the summer is coming.The weather pattern is shifting, and a heat dome will traverse from the West to the Eastern United States, baking most of the eastern half of the country, including major cities from Chicago to New York, in stifling temperatures for days. More

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      Greece Closes Schools and Acropolis Amid Heat

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      Concerns are also growing for two foreign hikers who have gone missing on Greek islands amid the soaring temperatures.Intense heat in Greece prompted a mini lockdown for two days starting on Wednesday, with some schools closing and the Acropolis restricting visiting hours, as the authorities searched for two foreign hikers just a few days after a British medical journalist was found dead on the island of Symi after going for a walk in searing heat.The onset of sweltering temperatures, which meteorologists said might set a record on Thursday, prompted the Health Ministry to issue a warning to older people and people with chronic ailments to stay indoors. The authorities also advised anyone who works outdoors to avoid strenuous activity from noon to 5 p.m.Temperatures were forecast to reach 41 Celsius, or 105.8 Fahrenheit, in Athens on Wednesday and rise to 42 Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) on Thursday before dipping on Friday, according to Greece’s National Meteorological Service. The heat elsewhere in the Greek mainland was expected to reach 43 Celsius.Walking up Lycabettus Hill in Athens on Wednesday. Temperatures were forecast to reach 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the city on Wednesday and 107.6 degrees on Thursday.Alkis Konstantinidis/ReutersThe tinderbox conditions also raised concerns about wildfires after a disastrous summer last year, when wildfires killed more than 20 people in Greece and razed vast areas of forestland. Greece’s civil protection authority and the army were conducting 24-hour patrols of major forests this week in an effort to prevent fires from breaking out.Meteorologists have warned that Europe is on course to have another scorching summer. Last summer’s heat and wildfires hurt some Greek businesses that rely on tourism, although the country still reported record tourism revenue for the year overall. This year, while many visitors still plan to visit the Mediterranean nation, others are opting for cooler Northern European countries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More