Gonna get hot this summer.
Heat dome setting records in US West.
An unusually strong and sprawling heat dome is the catalyst for the heat, but the magnitude is undoubtedly being worsened by planet-warming pollution. Heat waves are becoming more frequent, more severe and lasting longer as the world warms.
Climate scientists at World Weather Attribution published an analysisFriday that found this heat wave would be “virtually impossible for this time of year in a world without human-induced climate change.”
Heat domes of this strength are rare this early in the year, and its arrival ahead of schedule could actually make it more dangerous. “The early, prolonged nature of this heat with limited seasonal acclimation will increase the risk of heat impacts especially among sensitive populations or those without effective cooling,” the Weather Prediction Center said.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment (2023):
In all regions increases in extreme heat events have resulted in human mortality and morbidity (very high confidence). The occurrence of climate-related food-borne and water-borne diseases (very high confidence) and the incidence of vector-borne diseases (high confidence) have increased. In assessed regions, some mental health challenges are associated with increasing temperatures (high confidence), trauma from extreme events (very high confidence), and loss of livelihoods and culture (high confidence). Climate and weather extremes are increasingly driving displacement in Africa, Asia, North America (high confidence), and Central and South America (medium confidence), with small island states in the Caribbean and South Pacific being disproportionately affected relative to their small population size (high confidence).