Deadly heatwaves in US, Mexico made more likely by climate change
Al Jazeera
Deadly heat that recently blanketed the United States, Mexico and Central America was made 35 times more likely due to global warming, an international network of climate scientists has said.
The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group also said the extreme highs experienced across the region in May and June were four times as likely to occur today as a quarter of a century ago.
The record-breaking heat killed at least 125 people in Mexico and caused thousands more to suffer heat strokes, a potentially fatal condition that occurs when the body’s internal cooling mechanism starts to fail.
“We likely do not know the full picture of heat-related deaths, since they are usually only confirmed and reported months after the event, if at all,” said WWA, which uses peer-reviewed methods to assess links between specific extreme events and global warming.
They said as the world continues to burn fossil fuels and emit climate-heating greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, millions more people are expected to be exposed to dangerous levels of heat in the future.
