Hi Steemians,
It’s been a very hot past couple of days in Australia, and this will continue. It was just 38 today and will be 41 degrees Celsius in 2 days. It is extremely hot and I honestly can’t stand it. I remember years ago when 30 degrees was hot and now 40 degrees is just too much. Fun fact: our cells begin to die at 41-45 degrees Celsius, but we as humans can survive longer than that. But besides the point, 2017 was one of the hottest years on record.
According to NASA, 2017 is the second warmest year on record and the hottest in 137 years. It is also the hottest year ever without an El Nino, which is a natural occurrence when the waters in the Pacific rise in temperature. And also, 17 out of the 18 warmest years on record have been since the 2000. And in 2018, these temperatures will continue to soar higher.
Now in Australia, one of the major hazards is heatwaves, causing bushfires. Just today a fire broke out in the Sydney Royal National Park and 1000 people had to be evacuated and it was just HOT. The humidity will continue to be very high these next couple of days and as the heatwaves are all over Australia, it is a concern that power outages may occur. Over the past few days many people have died and there were 31 cardiac arrests due to heatstrokes.
After seeing the figures, I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping under shelter (and wearing sunscreen when in the sun), limiting physical activity, drinking lots of water and checking on the elderly and infants. Thanks for stopping by and reading this post. I hope that you guys all stay healthy this summer or keep warm this winter for those in the Northern Hemisphere. And remember, drink water!!