published22. May 2022, 05:11
It has never been so hot in May in some places. Loss of work due to extreme heat already costs more than due to seasonal flu.
At the weekend there is only cooling in the pool.
20min/Michael Scherrer
Excursions to the lake will probably be a popular leisure activity in the next few days.
20min/Michael Scherrer
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According to SRF Meteo boss Thomas Bucheli, the hot days in May are “far from normal”.
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They are not only casual for swimming pools and barbecues, but also a burden on the economy.
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When doing heavy work outdoors, performance drops rapidly at such temperatures.
This week, Switzerland recorded new May temperature records in several places. “These temperatures are far from normal,” says Thomas Bucheli, head of SRF Meteo. What is ideal for the pool or the barbecue evening paralyzes the economy: when working hard outdoors, performance drops quickly at such temperatures as the “Sunday Newspaper” writes.
In a new study, a team of scientists from ETH, the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology and other institutions examined the effects of hot days on work productivity.
New heat records are expected in 2022
The researchers estimate that jobs worth more than 400 million Swiss francs a year are already being lost in Switzerland because of the heat. That’s regarding double what’s lost to seasonal flu in an average year. As a result of climate change, hot days are becoming more frequent. Productivity losses will increase by 17 percent in the most favorable climate scenario by 2050, and by up to 58 percent in the worst-case scenario.
According to Thomas Bucheli, temperatures in Switzerland can easily be two to five degrees higher than before, “it can get up to 40 degrees hot.” He assesses the probability as “very high” that we will experience a warmer than normal summer this year. New heat records are “very likely”.
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(chk)
