Severe heat events can have severe consequences for public health. As exemplified by Europe’s 2003 summer heatwave, which resulted in over 70,000 deaths, extreme heat can lead to detrimental effects. It can worsen air quality issues, contribute to ground-level ozone pollution, intensify the risk of droughts and wildfires, diminish labor productivity, cause infrastructure damage, and reduce crop yields.
There are multiple approaches to measure extreme heat. While absolute temperature is one criterion, another crucial factor for assessing the impacts of heat extremes is how much higher the temperatures are compared to the normal conditions specific to a particular location.
To evaluate the changing occurrence of extreme heat events over time, Carbon Brief has analyzed the regions that witnessed all-time daily heat records each year since 1950. The findings reveal a significant surge in the number of individuals experiencing all-time high heat events over the past three decades. In general, approximately half of the world’s population resides in areas that observed their highest daily temperatures since 1950 within the last decade.
In 2022, which ranked as the fifth or sixth warmest year on record for the Earth’s surface according to various datasets, an estimated 380 million people encountered the highest hourly temperature ever recorded in their respective regions.
Credits:
- Carbon Brief at carbonbrief.org
- UN Climate Change – @LinkedIn