Heat can kill and we’re turning up the thermostat

Enlarge (credit: Jorge Quinteros)

‘Tis the season for heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere, as folks across Europe and parts of the US west have been reminded this week. In addition to providing weather to complain about—seemingly a necessary component of human communication—heatwaves can be straight up deadly. The 2010 Moscow heatwave (combined with thick air pollution from associated wildfires) caused thousands of deaths.

The stress of extreme heat on the human body is real. While most of us don’t see those conditions too often, they do occur today. And that means that our warming climate will ensure they occur more often. But how often will that be?

Evaluating this risk with precision isn’t easy, because global data on deaths attributable to heatwaves aren’t very good. But a group of researchers led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Camilo Mora gave it a shot, gathering together over 900 studies that covered 784 heatwaves in 36 countries.