Here Are the Places Most at Risk From Record-Shattering Heat
Dr. Mitchell and his colleagues looked at maximum daily temperatures around the world between 1959 and 2021. They found that regions covering 31 percent of Earth’s land surface experienced heat so extraordinary that, statistically, it shouldn’t have happened. These places, the study argues, are now prepared to some degree for future severe hot spells.
But there are still many areas that, simply by chance, haven’t yet experienced such extreme heat. So they might not be as prepared.
According to the study, these include economically developed places like Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, plus the region of China around Beijing. But they also include developing countries like Afghanistan, Guatemala, Honduras and Papua New Guinea, that are more likely to lack resources to keep people safe.
Other areas at particular risk include far eastern Russia, northwestern Argentina and part of northeastern Australia.
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Why this is important
In 2021, a heat wave in the Pacific Northwest shattered local records by staggering margins. Hundreds of people in Washington and Oregon may have died because of the heat. Crops shriveled. Wildfire destroyed the village of Lytton, British Columbia.
The new study shows that hot spells which fall outside the range of statistical plausibility have occurred all over the world throughout the past few decades. This suggests they could happen again, anywhere, though not all of them will be as off-the-charts as the recent Pacific Northwest one.
Source: The New York Times
