heat wave 復習

アメリカ南西部では猛暑が続き、山火事や熱中症などの被害が多発しています。

Death toll from Southwest heat wave rises

The deadly heat in the Southwest has claimed another victim.
Authorities in Pima County, Arizona, confirmed that a missing hiker -- 33-year-old Marcus Turowski -- was found dead Tuesday.
Turowski becomes the fourth hiker in the Tuscon area who died due to extreme heat.
One of the other people he was hiking with was found dead Sunday -- 57-year-old Stefan Guenster.
Adrienna Rasmussen, 18, also died Sunday in a heat-related incident.
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Further north in Phoenix, a 28-year-old woman died Sunday and a 25-year-old man died Saturday -- both while hiking, according to Larry Subervi, a Phoenix Fire Department spokesman.
And a woman in her 50s died of heat exposure while going for a walk in the middle of the city, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a news conference Monday.
Nanos urged people to stay indoors for their safety -- and for the safety of others.
"If not for your own safety, [then stay inside] for the safety of my team and these volunteers who come out here and do this all the time," he said. "This week, until these temps come down, get your exercise at home. Get your exercise indoors. Or just stay inside. It's too hot."

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/22/us/heat-wave-deaths/index.html

今回取り上げるのはheat waveです。
直訳すると「熱波」となり、ここでもその意味で用いられています。

しかし、『英辞郎 on the web』で調べると他に「（長期間の）猛暑、酷暑」を表すことがわかりました。Oxford dictionaries.com.でも“A prolonged period of abnormally hot weather”と定義されています。
反意語は「異常な寒さ、寒波」の“cold spell”です。

この暑さの原因は「熱ドーム」という上空の大気の影響で熱がこもる現象によるものだそうです。(flyingbird)

Heat wave claims clams, crabs in Tokyo Bay - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から