The risk of fatal heatwaves has risen sharply over the past 20 years.
The risk of fatal heatwaves has risen sharply over the past 20 years. In the future, such extreme weather will become more frequent and heat-related excess mortality will increase. Europe will be particularly affected, as ETH Zurich researchers show.
Heatwaves of the kind we are currently experiencing are particularly deadly for the elderly, the sick and the poor. The 2003 heatwave, which saw temperatures in Europe reach 47.5 degrees Celsius, was one of the worst natural disasters of recent decades, claiming an estimated 45,000 to 70,000 victims in the space of a few weeks. Forests burned, crops withered in the fields and emergency wards in the cities were full to capacity. Globally, costs totalled around 13 billion US dollars. Nevertheless, the public remains less aware of the risks of heatwaves than of other climate-related extremes. This is a problem, as a external pagestudycall_made published in the journal Nature Communications points out. Heatwaves like the one we saw in 2003 could become the new norm in the coming years.
Read more at: ETH Zurich
Photo Credit: FelixMittermeier
