Severe heat waves with dangerous temperatures for people during this century are likely to occur 3-10 times more often than now, CNN reported on Friday, citing a study by Harvard and Washington Universities.
Thus, more and more frequent heat waves are expected in the USA, China, Japan and Western Europe. In this case, the air temperature will reach 39.4 degrees Celsius.
This trend will be most pronounced in the countries of the tropics, where the number of days with extreme heat – with an air temperature of 51 degrees Celsius – will double.
Experts have made these predictions based on assumptions that average global temperatures will rise by 2 degrees Celsius: this is the limit set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, within which humanity must keep the increase in temperatures.
Earlier it was reported that according to the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, the current drought seems to be perhaps the worst in the last 500 years. Final data at the end of the season may confirm this preliminary estimate.
The countries of Europe, which this summer are suffering from wildfires associated with abnormal heat and drought, in 2022 broke the record of destruction from fires: 662.8 thousand hectares were devastated by fire.
Among the states most affected by fires this year are Spain (246 thousand hectares of burned forests), Romania (150 thousand hectares), Portugal (75 thousand hectares) and France (61 thousand hectares).
