A group of scientists studying extreme weather events has found that global warming has increased the likelihood of extreme temperatures, making heat waves as powerful as those setting records in places like Phoenix, Catalonia, and China’s Xinjiang region possible. The research, published by the World Weather Attribution group, found that the extremes observed this year are expected to worsen as humans continue to emit heat-trapping gases and rely heavily on fossil fuels.
The heat has been blamed for record-breaking power demand in China, outages in the U.S. and Europe, as well as crop losses or cattle deaths in all three regions. The heat wave that has dogged the southern U.S. for much of July will soon expand to cover much of the country. The country has experienced a summer of extreme smoke from record-setting Canadian wildfires, extreme precipitation that caused damaging flooding in the Northeast, and extreme ocean temperatures along much of its coastline.
Governments need to better adapt to protect people from heat, as the risks are rising faster than they are adapting.
