World News for Students of English

07-07-2021 07:00

Linton, a town in central British Columbia, Canada, broke Canada’s all-time hottest temperature record three times last week, eventually climbing to 49.4 degrees Celsius.

The heat over western parts of Canada and the US has been caused by a dome of static high-pressure hot air stretching from California, US, to the Arctic territories. Climatologists describe the heatwave as spectacular and unprecedented, and they expect it to continue passing high temperature marks set decades ago. At least 233 people died in British Columbia in the last four days, and that’s about 100 more deaths than the average four-day period.

Across Canada, people are trying to stay safe and beat the heat, seeking shade, water and air conditioners. The extreme heat closed schools, driven up natural gas prices and burned crops across the prairies where farmers grow much of the world’s wheat and canola. Experts say that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. However, to link any single event to global warming is complicated.

Difficult words: dome (a structure that is shaped like half of a ball), static (staying in one place without moving, or not changing for a long time), beat the heat (to cool down), canola (a plant with yellow flowers from which oil and animal food are produced).

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