It’s said what happens in Las Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Right now, what’s happening in Las Vegas is a sizzling heatwave. And it’s staying there for a while.
The streets of Las Vegas are a lot emptier than normal, and security
guards are protecting the fountains of casinos and hotels to prevent
people from jumping in to cool off.
Across the United States, a heat dome stretching from California to
Texas has led to extreme heat warnings with temperature records being
tested in almost 40 cities.
In southern Europe, a heatwave is scorching Spain, Italy and Greece,
with forest fires burning in the Canary Islands. Locals and tourists are
being warned to take precautions against heat exhaustion.
Now, the return of the El Nino weather system has scientists
predicting that there is a 90% chance of this year ending up in the top
five warmest years on record, and a 50-50 chance of being in the top
three.
Worryingly, the intense heat is causing travel disruption both in the
air and on the ground. Air traffic watchdog Flight Aware has been
logging thousands of delays and flight cancellations every day.
While it will be argued that aviation is contributing to global
warning by producing around 3% of the globe’s energy-related CO2
emissions, the airlines are working hard to reach their target of
net-zero emissions by 2050.
In the meantime, airlines remain vulnerable to the impacts of global
warming, their schedules under threat from the effects of higher
temperatures and changing weather patterns that produce smoke from
wildfires, compromise navigation systems and even melt runways.
For passengers, it leads to the frustration of delayed or cancelled
flights, and, in the air, the fear of severe turbulence caused by severe
storms that often accompany hot weather.