by #JakeBittle in @grist:

"More than 113 million people in the United States are suffering under extreme heat as another massive 'heat dome' expands from Texas westward toward California. Meteorologists expect the Southwest’s heat wave to intensify over the weekend, delivering some of the year’s highest temperatures and pushing California’s Death Valley near its all-time-record temperature of over 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The midday heat in cities like Phoenix, Arizona, has become so intense that ordinary surfaces such as streets and metal railings are too dangerous to touch without risking burns."

https://grist.org/extreme-weather/southwest-heat-wave-arizona-california-phoenix/

#HeatWave #heat #temperature #meteorology #southwest #Phoenix #Arizona #California #GlobalWarming #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateChange #climate #Grist

by #JakeBittle in @grist:

"Phoenix, Arizona, is facing not one but two water crises. Around a third of the desert city’s water comes from the beleaguered Colorado River. Thanks to a decades-long megadrought fueled by climate change, the city stands to lose much of that supply in coming years as the river dries up and the state faces water cuts.

"Another third of the metro’s water comes from underground aquifers — and that water is running out, too. Earlier this month, Arizona’s water department published a new report assessing how much water remains in the aquifers below Phoenix. The data was alarming: The state found that it has allocated more groundwater to cities and farms over the next hundred years than is actually present in the aquifers. If the Phoenix area keeps pumping water at its current rate, those aquifers will tap out over the next century, according to the department. The total shortfall amounts to almost 5 million-acre feet, or around 1.6 trillion gallons, that were permitted for use over the next hundred years but may not exist at all."

https://grist.org/cities/phoenix-arizona-groundwater-shortage-development-agriculture/

#Phoenix #Arizona #groundwater #water #ColoradoRiver #megadrought #drought #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #climate #Grist