Heat waves like the one that hit the United States, Mexico and Central America between the end of May and the beginning of June will be 35 times more likely due to climate change, concludes a study released this Thursday.
The World Weather Attribution (WWA) expert report states that the extreme temperatures reached during this episode in May and June in these regions are now four times more likely to be repeated in the current climate than 25 years ago.
WWA, which regularly assesses the link between extreme weather events around the world and climate change, adds that heat waves have always occurred, but climate change, caused by more than a century of burning coal, oil and gas , they are making them more intense. and frequent.
oh Heat kills more than hurricanes or floods. All over the world.
Temperatures have broken heat records in Mexico since March, causing the deaths of at least 125 people.
“We still do not know for sure how the deaths occurred, but they were caused by the heat,” he emphasizes.
For these experts, the continued use of fossil fuels and, therefore, greenhouse gas emissions, will expose millions of people to dangerous heat waves in the future.
May 2024 was the hottest May on record worldwidemaking it the 12th consecutive month to break its own record, according to the European Copernicus Observatory.
Greece is facing its first heat wave of the year, the likes of which have never happened so early in June.
India experiences scorching temperatures in the hot season, but this year the heat waves were exceptional, with record-breaking temperatures.
And in Saudi Arabia, more than 900 deaths were recorded during the great annual Muslim pilgrimage in recent days, most due to the heat wave.
WWA experts analyzed the five consecutive days and the five hottest nights of the “extreme heat” period that hit the southwestern United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras in late May and early June.
Source: Observadora
