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Heat waves kill people—and climate change is making it much, much worse
A recent study found that more than a third of all heat deaths worldwide can be pinned on climate change. Parts of the U.S. are feeling the danger now.
Heat waves, like the one that has held the Northwest United States in its grip for the past week, are deadly.
The human toll of the record-breaking temperatures that slammed both coasts of the U.S. and Canada in recent weeks is already enormous. At least 80 people have died in the U.S during the past few days of extreme heat; in British Columbia, the number is in the hundreds. And, as more data trickles in, those numbers are likely to rise even further.
A mountain of scientific research has shown that climate change is making heat waves longer, hotter, more likely, and more dangerous. A recent study published in Nature Climate Change adds additional detail by assessing the
