“Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer of Americans.”
Did you know that heat waves are “one of the deadliest natural hazards”?
By 27 June 2021, the Pacific Northwest (US and Canada) was in the midst of a “historic and dangerous” heat wave.
Historic and dangerous heat wave to continue throughout the Northwest https://t.co/A3RX3bOdWJ
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) June 27, 2021
But the 27th wasn’t the peak. A 121º reading in Lytton, British Columbia, on 29 June 2021 set a “world record for the most extreme high temperature ever observed north of 45 degrees latitude.”
Decades of predictions coming to pass
Blistering temperatures did not surprise climate scientists, although the degree to which records fell might have.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, climate scientists have told us that “global warming would make heat waves more frequent, long-lasting and intense.”
Every heatwave occurring today is made more likely and more intense by human-induced climate change. In some cases local factors enhance or counteract this effect. – For the numbers on the PNW wait for our team @wxrisk @gjvoldenborgh we're working hard on them! pic.twitter.com/0sP2UY5Zkj
— Dr Friederike Otto (@FrediOtto) June 28, 2021
According to a July 2021 study by 27 international scientists:
The study, not yet peer reviewed, said that before the industrial era, the region’s late June triple-digit heat was the type that would not have happened in human civilization. And even in today’s warming world, it said, the heat was a once-in-a-millennium event…
“This study is telling us climate change is killing people,” said Ebi, who endured the blistering heat in Seattle. She said it will be many months before a death toll can be calculated from June’s blast of heat but it’s likely to be hundreds or thousands. “Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer of Americans.”
The anomalies are no longer anomalous.
- 25 January 2022: What drove Perth’s record-smashing heatwave, and why it’s a taste of things to come
- 23 March 2022: Record-smashing heatwaves are hitting Antarctica and the Arctic simultaneously
- 12 May 2022: Spring Heat Wave Smashing Records in the South, Parts of the Midwest Into Late Week
- 07 June 2022: Deadly heat wave in India and Pakistan was 30x more likely due to climate change, scientists say
- 12 June 2022: Heat wave creating a ‘dangerous situation’ across the southern US as millions will feel triple digit temperatures this week
- 20 June 2022: Historic June heat wave smashes records in Europe
- 23 June 2022 (updated 27 June): Summer swelter: Persistent heat wave breaks records, spirits
When will we shun climate change deniers and act?
Excerpted from WiredPen: One year ago: the Pacific Northwest was gripped by historic heat wave
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