Beyond the phenomenon known as El Niño, he attributes this episode to the idiosyncrasies of the city itself. You have to avoid being exposed to that heat and hydrate lots.”įor him, more than simply informing the public, his task is to provide an alert. He tells EL PAÍS that it’s still difficult to educate people about the risks of heat: “ When the body rises above, it overheats… there can be permanent damage to the liver, brain. This is how one of the meteorologists at the Phoenix office of the US National Weather Service explains it: Jeral Estupiñán affirms that these temperatures are only normal “in Dubai, in Kuwait.” Born in Spain, he’s been a meteorologist in the US for more than 40 years. But really, nobody can get used to living at 122☏. “A wreck.” Even so, he hasn’t gotten used to the heat. He’s been living in the city for five years and sold his car, he mumbles, because it was too expensive to maintain. ![]() “I don’t like this nobody likes it in summer, but you have to work,” he shrugs. At one point, while waiting, he moved into the shade of a few trees on Camelback Avenue. At 60, this Native American citizen affirms that he prefers the climate of his hometown, which is located further north, “where there are really four seasons,” he jokes. He’s been waiting in the sun for 20 minutes at 111☏. Gerald, a local resident, doesn’t know much about that office, nor is he interested in it. The heat emergency is so serious that the City Council has a specific department to warn citizens and respond to those who have fallen ill: the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation. The local news repeats the same advice over and over again: drink water, not just soda stay in cool places do not exercise outdoors. And it’s so dry that you barely sweat… a condition that conceals dehydration. Headaches are common – the body screams as it tries to recover from the brutal impact of the heat wave. Even your phone will start to complain – it’s too hot even to charge. When you reach Phoenix, within just a few minutes, your lips start to crack. It requires strict routines and lots and lots of water. Living in such an environment is almost impossible. And the nights aren’t much better, with temperatures not dropping below 90☏. Phoenix has been breaking heat records, with temperatures averaging 110 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 20 days in a row. The fifth-most populous city in the United States is a desert… literally and figuratively. ![]() The few sidewalks in the capital of Arizona– wide and clear – have become decorative. ![]() Hardly anyone walks the streets and wide avenues of Phoenix these days.
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