Half of world’s population endured extra month of extreme heat due to climate change, experts say

Scientists say billion people about half the world s population experienced at least one extra month of extreme heat because of human-caused atmosphere change from May to May The extreme heat caused illness death crop losses and strained potency and robustness care systems according to the analysis from World Weather Attribution Situation Central and the Red Cross Although floods and cyclones often dominate headlines heat is arguably the deadliest extreme event the assessment noted Plenty of heat-related deaths are unreported or are mislabeled by other conditions like heart ailment or kidney failure The scientists used peer-reviewed methods to survey how much circumstances change boosted temperatures in an extreme heat event and calculated how much more likely its occurrence was because of circumstances change In almost all countries in the world the number of extreme heat days has at least doubled compared with a world without weather change Caribbean islands were among the hardest hit by additional extreme heat days Puerto Rico a territory of the United States endured days of extreme heat Without situation change only would have occurred It makes it feel impossible to be outside stated Charlotte Gossett Navarro chief director for Puerto Rico at Hispanic Federation a nonprofit focused on social and environmental issues in Latino communities who lives in the San Juan area and was not involved in the overview Even something as simple as trying to have a day outdoors with family we weren t able to do it because the heat was too high she disclosed reporting feeling dizzy and sick last summer When the power goes out which happens frequently in Puerto Rico in part because of decades of neglected grid maintenance and damage from Hurricane Maria in Navarro commented it is demanding to sleep If you are someone relatively healthy that is uncomfortable it s hard to sleep but if you are someone who has a strength condition now your life is at peril Gossett Navarro announced Heat waves are silent killers declared Friederike Otto associate professor of surroundings science at Imperial College London one of the review s authors People don t fall dead on the street in a heat wave people either die in hospitals or in poorly insulated homes and therefore are just not seen he mentioned Low-income communities and vulnerable populations such as older adults and people with clinical conditions suffer the the bulk from extreme heat The high temperatures recorded in the extreme heat events that occurred in Central Asia in March South Sudan in February and in the Mediterranean last July would have not been workable without weather change according to the overview At least people died in Morocco after temperatures hit degrees Fahrenheit degrees Celsius last July People are noticing temperatures are getting hotter but don t consistently know it is being driven by conditions change explained Roop Singh head of urban and attribution at the Red Cross Red Crescent Setting Centre in a World Weather Attribution report We need to briskly scale our responses to heat through better early warning systems heat action plans and long-term planning for heat in urban areas to meet the rising challenge Singh stated City-led initiatives to tackle extreme heat are becoming popular in parts of South Asia North America Europe and Australia to coordinate guidance across governments and other agencies One example is a tree-planting initiative launched in Marseille France to create more shaded areas The description says strategies to prepare for heat waves include monitoring and reporting systems for extreme temperatures providing urgency medical services cooling shelters updated building codes enforcing heat safety rules at work and designing cities to be more heat-resilient But without phasing out fossil fuels heat waves will continue becoming more severe and frequent and protective measures against the heat will lose their effectiveness the scientists stated The Associated Press conditions and environmental coverage receives financial aid from multiple private foundations AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP org Source