Exposure to extreme heat is getting worse as a result of climate change
www.economist.com
THIS summer Verkhoyansk, a village in Siberia, was famous for being the coldest inhabited place north of the Arctic circle, with a record low of −67.8°C. In June, however, it claimed another record: the hottest place north of the Arctic circle.
The village recorded a high of 38°C, whereas the usual summer peak is around 20°C.
The freak temperatures were made 600 times more likely by man-made climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution project, a collaboration among climate researchers.
As greenhouse-gas emissions in the atmosphere increase, extremes of heat such as that in Verkhoyansk are becoming more frequent.
According to a new report in the Lancet, this is putting an increasing number of lives at risk.
A warming world poses many dangers, including flooding, pollution and the spread of disease, but the researchers identified heatwaves as one of the most striking.
People already living in the hottest regions are the most exposed, but regardless of location, it is the elderly and those with pre-existing health problems such as heart disease who tend to suffer the most.
The study combined population records with hourly temperature data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts to track vulnerable people’s exposure to heatwaves.
globalnews.ca
