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3 June 2019
Loss of Arctic sea ice stokes summer heat waves in southern U.S.
Over the last 40 years, Arctic sea ice thickness, extent and volume have declined dramatically. Now, a new study finds a link between declining sea ice coverage in parts of the Canadian Arctic and an increasing incidence of summer heat waves across the southern United States.
20 December 2018
Northern Hemisphere heat waves covering more area than before
Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere have gotten more expansive in recent decades, covering 25 percent more area now than they did in the 1970s, according to new research. A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, the University of Delaware and Stanford University analyzed 38 years of NASA climate and weather data and found the average size of a heat wave has grown by 50 percent over the entire Northern Hemisphere, including the ocean, and 25 percent over the Northern Hemisphere’s land. It’s the first study to examine how heat wave extent has increased over time on a global scale.
13 September 2018
The Blob hides in the deep
Fall is nearly here and, for most of us, that means the end of the summer heatwave. In the waters of British Columbia, however, the seasonal cycle is stuck. A marine heatwave began more than four years ago and new research suggests it won’t be disappearing anytime soon. Marine heatwaves are not new. But heatwaves are getting more intense and more frequent with a changing climate. Over the fall and winter of 2013 and 2014, satellites detected above normal temperatures in the surface waters of the northeast Pacific. At its peak, the mass of warm water—nicknamed “The Blob”—had water temperatures up to 3 °C warmer than normal and covered an area larger than Australia.
7 August 2018
New study predicts warming climate will drive thousands to ER for heat illness
Even under the most charitable climate scenario where emissions are restricted across the globe, ER visits for hyperthermia in the United States could still increase by 21,000 by 2050, costing up to $38 million according to a new study in GeoHealth.
9 February 2011
A deadly heat wave is finally hindcasted
In 2003, an extreme heat wave in Europe brought record temperatures that lasted throughout the summer and killed tens of thousands of people. Since then, a number of meteorological studies tried unsuccessfully to re-forecast – or forecast in hindsight – that summer’s extreme weather, but none were able to create a totally accurate model of the event. Scientists ultimately hope to be able to predict such scorchers before they hit. A research team now says that it has succeeded in re-forecasting the range of conditions across Europe during the 2003 heat wave.