The new heat records being set this summer are just some of the extreme weather being seen around the US this month, such as flash floods in Pennsylvania and parts of the Northeast. The extreme heat is now hitting the eastern part of the US, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places are seeing their warmest days so far this year. Scientists warn that July will prove to be the hottest globally on record and perhaps the warmest human civilization has seen. “If that plant is really starting to shut down, doesn’t matter how much water you pour on them, they won’t be able to take it up and do anything with it,” she added.Ĭacti in Phoenix are being studied as the city is a heat island, mimicking higher temperatures plants in the wild are expected to face with future climate change, Hernandez warned. McCue said once the plants start dying, little can be done to save them. “They literally can’t function, and the way I describe it is they start to suffocate.” “Everyone looks at cactus and says ‘oh, these are desert plants, so they should be just fine.’ But cactus are living things,” McCue was quoted as saying by The Independent. USA Today quoted the National Park Service (NPS) as saying that the average life span of a saguaro is 150–175 years – however some plants can live for over 200 years.īut McCue told CNN she and her team have been witnessing more and more of the cacti die since 2020 when record temperatures caused stress in many of the saguaros. Only then does it reveal that it has been rotting from the inside due to extreme heat. McCue added that a saguaro can appear “fairly normal” or feel somewhat squishy before it quickly collapses APĬNN quoted Desert Botanical Garden Chief Science Officer Kimberlie McCue as saying the combination of the extreme temperatures and lack of rains have left the cacti “highly stressed.” Phoenix ‘s record-breaking temperatures are killing off cacti. Plants now suffering from prolonged, excessive heat may take months or years to die, Hernandez said. If that does not happen they sustain internal damage.Īs per Mirror UK, this happens as cacti open their pores and absorb carbon dioxide.īut the heat is interrupting this natural process and putting the catci under strain. Until recently many thought the plants were perfectly adapted to high temperatures and drought.Īrizona’s heat wave is testing those assumptions.Ĭacti need to cool down at night or through rain and mist. Plant physiologists at the Phoenix garden are studying how much heat cacti can take. The garden has over 2/3 of all cactus species, including saguaros which can grow to over 40 feet. “These plants are adapted to this heat, but at some point the heat needs to cool down and the water needs to come,” said Hernandez, a research scientist at Phoenix’s 140-acre Desert Botanical Garden. This, as the summer monsoon rains the cacti rely on have failed to arrive – all of which is testing the desert giants’ ability to survive in the wild as well as in cities. The heat has left the saguaro cacti losing arms and in some cases even falling over, scientist Tania Hernandez said on Tuesday. The agricultural desert community of Yuma is expecting highs ranging from 40 C to 44.4 C and Tucson is looking at highs ranging from 99 to 111 37.2 C to 43.9 C. The previous record stretch of that temperature or above was for 18 days in 1974.
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