Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday June 16 2017, @06:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the hot-enough-for-you? dept.

The Washington Post reports

It's not all that common, but the hottest weather in the nation lined up along the Interstate 95 corridor from the District [of Columbia] to Boston on Tuesday afternoon [June 13]. More than 15 locations set record highs.

[...] Temperatures into the mid-90s were widespread. Factor in the humidity, and it felt more like 95 to 100.

[...] In Boston, the heat wave was the second of the year, the earliest on record that the city posted two such events.

[...] Dulles International Airport climbed to 95 degrees, breaking the previous record of 94 set in 1994.

Baltimore soared to 97 degrees, tying the record set in 1956.

The Center for American Progress reports

An early summer heat wave delivered record temperatures from Nebraska to Maine this week. On Tuesday, some parts of the Midwest and Northeast saw temperatures 20 degrees above the historical average. And this is just the beginning of what is expected to be a very hot summer.

In case you were wondering--yes, this is what climate change looks like.

[...] Globally, carbon pollution is trapping heat, shifting the entire distribution of temperatures.

[...] Temperatures at the far end of the distribution, the ones that break records, are almost invariably explained by carbon pollution. A recent study found that, globally, 85 percent of record-hot days are the product of climate change.

The shift in temperatures means less extreme cold and more extreme heat. Correspondingly, record highs are now drastically outnumbering record lows in the United States.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of California - Irvine report Small climb in mean temperatures linked to far higher chance of deadly heat waves

An increase in mean temperature of 0.5 degrees Celsius over half a century may not seem all that serious, but it's enough to have more than doubled the probability of a heat wave killing in excess of 100 people in India, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions.

This could have grim implications for the future, because mean temperatures are projected to rise by 2.2 to 5.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century in the low- and mid-latitude countries of the Asian subcontinent, the Middle East, Africa, and South America.

[...] Using data gathered by the India Meteorological Department from 1960 to 2009, the UCI-led team analyzed changes in summer temperatures; the frequency, severity and duration of heat waves; and heat-related deaths.

They found that when mean summer temperatures in the South Asia nation went from 27 to 27.5 degrees Celsius, the probability of a heat wave killing more than 100 people grew from 13 percent to 32 percent--an increase of 146 percent.

Journal reference: Omid Mazdiyasni et al. Increasing probability of mortality during Indian heat waves. Science Advances, June 2017 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700066


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 16 2017, @02:45PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 16 2017, @02:45PM (#526446) Journal

    Did you take into account electricity generation, distribution and availability problems prevailing in India?

    Of course not. If India chooses not to fix those problems, which let us note, are rather trivial for countries to solve over the time frame involved, then it will, of course, take them longer to adopt AC technology.

    The scale of deficit is close to unimaginable so that sigmoid curve of yours better have good support.

    Build a better grid and the support will be there.

  • (Score: 2) by http on Friday June 16 2017, @05:41PM (1 child)

    by http (1920) on Friday June 16 2017, @05:41PM (#526522)

    Interesting definition of trivial you got there. Be a shame if something were to happen to it.

    --
    I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 16 2017, @06:49PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 16 2017, @06:49PM (#526563) Journal
      India is a country of 1.3 billion people and building electricity infrastructure isn't hard for that many people. I don't think use of the term, "trivial" is out of place here.