2023-07-23 03:04:30
LOOK: Phoenix burns: how the city resists the heat that has been with temperatures above 43 degrees for 20 days
Thermometers don’t lie. Hundreds of millions of people in the northern hemisphere are sweltering in waves of extreme heat, in many cases accompanied by forest fires or floods. High temperature milestones are broken almost daily in very distant places, where the constant is that the authorities continue to maintain maximum alerts.
It is a consensus among the scientific community that the heat waves that we see these days in North America, Europe and Asia are more intense and frequent than in the past. Although the El Niño phenomenon has been considered the cause of the higher temperatures this year, global warming has exacerbated the problem.
Gino Passalacqua, Ph.D. in Oceanography and a specialist in climate sciences and meteorology, explains that ongoing heat waves occur when a high pressure system in the northern hemisphere remains stuck in one place for several days or weeks, and this high pressure system creates a heat dome that traps very warm air that usually comes from the Pacific or from the oceans. “Being a high pressure system, it compresses this warm air towards the earth and makes it hotter and drier,” he told El Comercio.
(Trade)
a critical august
Most worrisome is that weather forecasts do not envision any near relief. Even the United States space agency (NASA) warned the day before yesterday that the heat wave in the northern hemisphere will continue unless the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere ceases.
A helicopter drops water as the Rabbit Fire burns in Moreno Valley, in Riverside County, California, on July 14, 2023. (Photo: AFP)
/ DAVID SWANSON
“For the last four decades there has been an increase in temperatures every decade. This past June was the warmest June on record, and we anticipate that July will likely be the hottest July ever,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
deadly events
The Pan American Health Organization points out that climate change is the greatest threat to global health of the 21st century. According to some health analyses, an additional 250,000 deaths per year might occur in the coming decades as a result of climate change.
Passalacqua notes that there are still a few weeks to go before the heat subsides. “Due to atmospheric circulation, in some places the heat will drop the following week, but then it will return. August is the hottest month in the northern hemisphere. Climatologically, average temperatures have to keep going up for the next two weeks, but they might keep getting warmer following that,” he says.
Tourists cool off in a fountain in Thessaloniki on July 14, 2023, as Greece suffers from a heat wave. (Photo: AFP)
/ SAKIS MITROLIDIS
He also explains that, although normally dawn is the time of day when the temperature decreases due to the lack of solar radiation, the existence of heat domes means that the temperature does not decrease as usual.
(Trade)
Harmful effects
According to the World Meteorological Organization, heat waves cause thousands of deaths because living conditions become intolerable, especially when they last for a long time. People with critical health conditions and the elderly are especially vulnerable to its consequences.
The ravages of heat can be worse in cities because of the concrete and tar on the slopes, which increase the temperature, so it can be 38°C, but the wind chill can be 4 or 5 degrees above that, says Passalacqua.
Extreme weather events also result in much wetter-than-normal conditions, resulting in floods like those in Italy and other countries, causing the spread of disease. The World Health Organization warned yesterday that dengue rates are increasing worldwide, and that cases might approach record highs this year.
Heat waves have gotten worse in recent years. Here is a postcard from Greece in the summer of 2022. (Photo: AFP)
/ LOUISA GOULIAMAKI
“Working conditions are more difficult, especially for physically demanding jobs that are done in the sun. It also has a serious impact on food production: crops can’t stand extreme heat for that long. So, either the harvest is lost, or its volume decreases. Global predictions due to these heat waves say that food production is reduced by 30%, and that is very significant”, points out Passalacqua.
POINT OF VIEW
“It is a global public health concern”
Jorge Martinez Velezmoro
Internist at the International Clinic
The human body will always try to return to its standard temperature, which is 37°C, when it is in a much hotter environment. To achieve this, the main mechanism is sweat. However, profuse sweating, while it occurs at a higher temperature, will produce a phenomenon of dehydration. That’s why it’s important that people exposed to heat waves stay hydrated.
If the temperature is very extreme, we will see symptoms of exhaustion and heat stroke, represented by edema, headaches, cramps, nausea or vomiting. All of this can lead to damage or dysfunction of organs such as the brain, kidney, and heart, and that is when we may be facing a more serious event, which can be fatal. Obviously, there are people more susceptible than others to these conditions, such as those with chronic diseases, the elderly, children or babies who have less body surface area for sweating.
What is recommended is to have water reserves and try not to be exposed to the sun in the hottest moments. In some parts of the world it is being suggested to work earlier in the morning and in the evening, especially in jobs that are carried out outdoors. You have to stay hydrated, ventilate the rooms, bathe with cold water.
More than a medical concern, what we are seeing with extreme heat waves is a global public health concern. It’s something we should all be thinking regarding how to handle. Heat waves not only affect our health, but also how we live in the future.
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