Heat waves, such as those currently suffocating Europe and other parts of the planet, are increasing in intensity and duration and could become a permanent phenomenon due to climate change, a UN expert warns.
The ‘heat peak’ – a phenomenon that, due to the stagnation of air masses, cools the atmosphere – covering much of Europe, has caused heat-induced wildfires that are ravaging Greece, Spain, Portugal, Canada and Hawaii. In addition, the very high temperatures in the middle of the South American winter are worrying experts.
“The heat waves will become increasingly intense and frequent,” John Nairn, an expert at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) based in Geneva, told AFP.
“It is the consequence of global warming that we see appearing very quickly in meteorological systems,” he added, noting that scientists warned of this event.
“People are too relaxed when faced with signals,” he complained. “Science warned it would get to this point. And it won’t stop there. It will be more intense and more frequent.”
Nighttime low temperatures pose a threat
John Nairn recommends that the public pay attention to the rise in nighttime minimum temperatures, not just daytime heat records.
High and repeated night temperatures are especially dangerous for human health, as the body is unable to recover from the heat it experiences during the day. Higher minimum temperatures at night also mean that the energy collected during the day has nowhere to be evacuated, further raising the next day’s temperatures.
We thus end up with “longer periods of high temperatures,” said the scientist, assuring that the situation threatens to worsen.
The specialist is particularly concerned about the situation in regions such as South America, where record heat was reached in recent weeks, with temperatures of up to 40ºC in winter.
“Make everything electric”
In the future, “we will see more heat waves over a much longer period of the year.” In tropical and subtropical regions, “unfortunately, all indications are that severe and extreme heat waves are imminent at any time (of the year) before the end of the century”.
When asked what is possible, John Nairn believed that “we have all the capacity to reverse the trend”.
“We have to make everything electric (…) and stop burning fossil fuels. It can’t be more difficult than that”, rdisappeared.
Source: DN
