The hottest week has been recorded, and it’s not going to get any better. 

The U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction has recorded an average of 62.62 degrees Fahrenheit (17.01 degrees Celsius) on Monday worldwide, even hotter on Tuesday with a recording of 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius), and experts predict that the next six weeks will be even worse. 

Scientists have identified places for those at most risk for heat waves; Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Central America, specifically Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. 

High temperatures can cause a number of problems, including an increased risk of wildfires and droughts, not to mention its effect on humans. Heat stroke is the most common symptom of overexposure to heat and can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and confusion, among others. 

This year’s sweltering heat has killed hundreds of people across the globe, with at least 112 in Mexico and at least 44 in India. In the U.S., Texas lost 13 people to temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and one other in Louisiana. Aside from humans, farm animals and crops in China have also suffered from the heat, raising concerns about food availability in a densely populated country. 

Canada’s wildfires are reported to have also been caused by dry and hot weather. The Canadian forest fires have been so large that it’s affecting the air quality across the U.S., thereby putting those most at risk — individuals with respiratory problems, children, pregnant women and older adults—in danger. 

China recorded its hottest May temperature in 100 years at 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 degrees Celsius). The U.K. recorded its hottest June month in nearly 140 years at 60.44 degrees Fahrenheit (15.8 degrees Celsius). 

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While high temperatures are causing numerous complications, what’s causing the heat is another situation entirely. El Niño’s presence, known to warm the planet’s temperatures, can aid fossil fuel burning and deforestation, among other human-caused changes, in worsening global warming. 

Friederike Otto, a climatologist at the Grantham Institute of Climate Change and the Environment in the U.K., said the record “won’t be a record for long” as El Niño is still developing. 

“It just shows we have to stop burning fossil fuels, not in decades, now,” she said. “This day is just a number, but for many people and ecosystems, it’s a loss of life and livelihood.”

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