VIDEO – Climate: Australia, Argentina, Canada… the thermometer panics everywhere on the globe

It almost becomes a habit. As climate change seems to be accelerating, abnormal weather phenomena are on the increase. In Canada, for example, several extreme temperature alerts have been issued by Environment Canada – Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador are particularly concerned. In the northwest of the country, the thermometer shows up to -53°C. On average during this period, it is nearly 30° warmer, or around -20°C.

This biting cold also affects Quebec, where the streets and parks usually very busy have emptied. Even if they are used to very cold weather, the inhabitants have received safety instructions. Public health authorities “advises us not to stay more than 15 to 30 minutes outside”, explains to TF1 a local resident, Alexandre Saint-Jean.

Consequence of icy mercury, the premises are heated much more. Moreover, electricity consumption has never been so high in Quebec. Last Tuesday, around 8:00 a.m., Quebecers consumed 39,900 megawatts, an absolute record. The previous one dated January 22, 2014, when a consumption of 39,031 megawatts was recorded. “This is the moment in all of Hydro-Québec’s history when consumption was the highest”, confirms to AFP Cendrix Bouchard, spokesperson for the Quebec state company.

From one hemisphere to the other, more than 100° difference. In Australia it’s summer but it’s up to… 50.7°C in Onslow, a coastal town. “Western Australia sets new heat record and equals national temperature record”, the state Bureau of Weather announced on Twitter. This is the hottest temperature recorded in Australia since 1960. On average, the thermometer reads around 36.5°C at this time of year.

“We can see that there are more and more temperature records being broken. Today, we break about ten times more heat records than cold records. This is the signature of global warming in planetary scale”, says Samuel Morin, climatologist at Météo France. “Heatwaves kill silently in Australia, they cause more deaths than any other extreme weather event”, warned Martin Rice, director of the Climate Council.

This alarmist and alarming observation is also true in Latin America, and particularly in Argentina. More than 41°C, instead of the usual 25°C, have been recorded in recent days in Buenos Aires.

According to the latest bulletin from the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the past seven years have been the warmest on record globally. 2021 ranks fifth in this ranking.