Record high temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, are killing plant life and affecting infrastructure.
The Desert Botanical Garden has resorted to draping its cacti in dark fabrics to shade them from the heat. This hasn’t stopped other cacti, like the tall saguaros, from dying from the extreme heat. Saguaros will keep their tall structure even while suffering the heat until they collapse from rotting on the inside.
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According to Chief Science Officer Kimberlie McCue, saguaros are “beautifully adapted to heat and aridity, but they have their limits.” McCue told CNN there had been a recent phenomenon of more cacti in the Deseret Botanical Garden dying than usual.
In previous attempts to beat the heat, the garden will host nighttime events, outside of their regular hours to provide tours. It has recently had to cancel even these “Flashlight Nights” because of high temperatures remaining after the sun sets. Regular daytime hours have been cut short in light of the heat advisories during last week’s record of 16 straight days of temperatures above 90 degrees.
This heat has also warmed the asphalt to near-boiling temperatures at roughly 170 degrees. When people come in contact with the ground, they are left with burns that require medical intervention.
“In the burn center, we expect that the summertime’s going to be our busy season, and we’re going to see people that fall down and get burned like this,” Dr. Kevin Foster of the Arizona Burn Center told CNN. “However, we are seeing a really unique spike in the incidents of these types of burns and their severity.”
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Foster described the demographics of those with asphalt burns as the elderly, children, and opioid-addicted. The problem with those under the influence of heavy opiates is that they make longer contact with the burning asphalt without realizing it at first.
Phoenix is expected to continue to see temperature highs of over 100 degrees this weekend and into next week.
