This week around 200 million people in the United States will endure, or already have endured, the first major heat wave of the year.
With high temperatures in the 90+ degrees Farenheit, and some places higher, along with miserable humidity.
As Kate Aronoff explains in The Simple Truth About Those Miserable Heat Waves:
“Heat waves will worsen as humans burn more fossil fuels and continue to raze forests, which is rapidly depleting the planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
The more of it that goes into the atmosphere, the hotter it gets.”
A sobering read.
Aronoff’s source for her story: Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence, a study published this month in Earth System Science Data.
Our area reached a heat index reading of 110 degrees Fahrenheit three days ago.
And that wasn’t the day this week with the highest temperature.
