Thread by @NateB_Panic

An extreme heat event currently ripping through Mexico has been described as "hands down the worst in the country's history." Children have been killed, athletes at the country's national games hospitalised and wild birds have died en masse as temperatures approach 50C (122F) 🧵

The Mexico heat event is unprecedented in its scope and scale. Of note has been the extreme heat at high altitudes

https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1669518229952245762?s=20

Temperatures in Mexico will rise close to 50C next week

https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1670593634427625472?s=20

Meteorologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera says the heat event is "hands down" the worst in Mexico's history

https://twitter.com/extremetemps/status/1668014385334218754?s=20

At Mexico's national games, basketball players were hospitalised due to heat stroke and the women's softball final was called off when six players fainted due to heat stroke during the match

reuters.com/world/americas…

Wild birds that hunt over the ocean died of starvation as their prey swam to cooler water to escape the heat. The recently begun El Niño weather pattern which brings hotter weather to the tropics has been boosted by record high greenhouse gas emissions

reuters.com/world/americas…

This article says a couple and their child died as they fled their too hot home and tried to cool in their air conditioned car. Others have died with hundreds hospitalised. Mexico's official weather service says the heat will continue for months elpais.com/mexico/2023-06…

When this heat event ends, another is forecast to start in early July, with the country's meteorological agency saying extreme heat will persist until October hipertextual.com/2023/06/cuarta…

With greenhouse gas emissions rising out of control to new record highs, not one country in the world is on track to reduce emissions enough to meet the Paris agreement 1.5C target according to climate action tracker

Due to the grip of the fossil fuel industry on the global political economy and the unwillingness of politicians to stand up to this industry, it is now expected that the 1.5C goal will be breached within years, bringing even more extreme and hellish heat
aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/17…

The current economic growth paradigm has not only failed to rein in emissions, it has pushed them to unreal highs. Current atmospheric CO2 is higher than any time in the last 3.6 million years and the rate of increase is higher than in *66 million years* earthsky.org/earth/carbon-d…

Studying the chemical properties of sediments laid down tens of millions of years ago, researchers have determined CO2 is currently being released 10x faster than in 66 million years. "We have entered a no-analogue state."

phys.org/news/2016-03-h…