heat waves

Climate Scientists’ Heat Wave Warning 20 Years Ago Was Tragically Prescient

Climate Scientists’ Heat Wave Warning 20 Years Ago Was Tragically Prescient

The mass casualty heat wave that broiled the Pacific Northwest and western Canada last month is precisely the kind of catastrophe predicted by climate scientists two decades ago, Yale Climate Connections reports. In 2001, the IPCC’s Third Assessment warned the greatest increases in heat stress were expected in “mid- to high-latitude (temperate) cities, especially in […]

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    6 Things to Know About Climate Change and Heat Waves

    6 Things to Know About Climate Change and Heat Waves

    By Tara Lohan It’s hard not to think about how hot it’s been — even if you live somewhere that has escaped the heat in the past few weeks. When British Columbia clocks temperatures of 121° F, it gets the world’s attention. As it should. Here are six reasons why we need to be paying […]

    Extreme Heat Wave Melts Cables, Buckles Roads in Northwest

    Extreme Heat Wave Melts Cables, Buckles Roads in Northwest

    Another day, another cascade of high temperature records broken across the Pacific Northwest as a heat wave unlike any in recent memory continued into a third day. In Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, all-time records were broken in many places for the third consecutive day: In Portland, highs topped out at 116°F on Monday afternoon, […]

    Heat Waves Cook Bird Eggs

    Heat Waves Cook Bird Eggs

    Some birds have mastered living in the scorching, dry environment of a desert. But even desert-adapted birds can’t handle extreme temperatures like those seen during heat waves. A heat wave is said to occur when unusually high temperatures prevail for several days in a region. During one heat wave that lasted eight days, all of […]

    Siberian Heat Wave Nearly Impossible Without Human Influence

    Siberian Heat Wave Nearly Impossible Without Human Influence

    By Michael Allen Last year was hot. NASA declared that it tied 2016 for the hottest year on record, and the Met Office of the United Kingdom said it was the final year in the warmest 10-year period ever recorded. Temperatures were particularly high in Siberia, with some areas experiencing monthly averages more than 10°C […]

    Record-Breaking Heat Is a Clear Sign of Climate Change

    Record-Breaking Heat Is a Clear Sign of Climate Change

    A heat wave scorched the U.S. West just before the official start of summer, bringing record-breaking temperatures, worsening a dangerous drought and offering yet another example of how the climate crisis has upended our idea of normal. The immediate cause of the hot weather was a high pressure system over the U.S. West, combined with […]

    Dangerously High Temperatures in West Expected to Threaten Lives, Power Grids

    Dangerously High Temperatures in West Expected to Threaten Lives, Power Grids

    Dangerously high temperatures are gripping the West with more to life- and grid-threatening heat expected in the coming days. Phoenix hit at least 113°F over the weekend and temperatures from the Southwest to Northern Rockies are forecast to be 15-25°F above average. Texas officials are already asking customers to conserve electricity as the extreme heat, […]