Intense heat events becoming more frequent

Extreme heat events will be
annual occurrences by 2075.

Heatwaves that used to arrive once every 20 years or so could become annual events by 2075 across almost two-thirds of the planet’s land surface – if humans go on burning ever more fossil fuels and releasing ever more greenhouse gases.

Claudia Tebaldi, visiting scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research, and Michael Wehner, senior staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, report in Climatic Change journal that stringent emissions reductions could reduce the risk of such extreme heat events.

But, even so, by 2075, an estimated 18% of the Earth’s surface could still experience those once-rare extreme heat events every year.

Read the Climate Home story - “Intense heatwaves could become ‘annual events’ by 2075.”

Irregular heatwaves to become an annual occurrence

The scorching, deadly heat waves that today strike only about once every 20 years could become an annual occurrence for more than half the world if nothing is done to curb emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, a new study reported Tuesday.

The work, detailed in the journal Climatic Change, also points to the worst heat waves of the future being much more intense. The results jibe with other research looking at how heat waves might change as the world warms, as well as those that have found that global warming has already juiced the heat waves we see today.

Read the Climate Central story - “Searing Heat Waves Could Become Annual Threat.”