Culture
Severe Heat Waves Will Scorch Us Until At Least 2040, Say Climatologists
This generation is doomed to more frequent and extreme heat waves, but researchers say the next one can benefit if we act on emissions now.
Hot weather during 2012, in a word, sucked. Unprecedented high temperatures pushed the planet to one of the top-10 warmest years on record; in the United States, it was the hottest year known to humankind, with a particularly brutal heat wave punishing citizens in the summer. Dozens of people died, highways buckled, and farmers kicked at barren fields during the worst drought in 50 years.
Well, guess what: There could be plenty more of these awful heat waves waiting in the pipeline. Even if humanity immediately takes drastic steps to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, periods of extreme heat will be commonplace until at least 2040, according to a new study in Environmental Research Letters.