USA: The country is faced with very high temperatures

A heat wave is affecting tens of millions of Americans this weekend, with several record temperatures expected in the central and northeastern US and a large wildfire raging in California.

“Unbearable heat will continue across the central part of the country and spread into the Northeast this weekend, with many record temperatures expected to be set across the region,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

“This heat will fuel severe weather across the northern Midwest on Saturday, with a high risk of damaging winds, severe hail and a few tornadoes,” the weather service continued in a statement.

The unbearable heat, which shows the threat posed by global warming, was particularly felt in the capital Washington, where temperatures can reach the symbolic mark of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 38 degrees Celsius). New York was not spared from the heat, as it had temperatures close to 35 degrees.

Temperatures could also reach 43 degrees in parts of Utah (west), Arizona (south) and the Northeast, according to the NWS.

In Boston, where Mayor Michelle Wu has declared a “heat emergency,” public spaces are expected to be open to cool off and swimming pools will be open longer as temperatures could reach 37 degrees on Sunday.

This heat increases the risk of fire. In the western part of the United States, a large forest fire, the “Oak Fire”, broke out on Friday in Mariposa County, near Yosemite National Park, whose giant sequoias were already threatened by fire ten days ago.

The Oak Fire, which has spread over an area of ​​more than 25,000 hectares, has already destroyed ten properties and damaged five others. It has not been brought under control, according to a Saturday bulletin from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In recent years, the American West has been swept by wildfires of extraordinary scale and intensity, with a very clear increase in the length of the fire season.