Latest news with #WorldWeatherAttribution
India Today
4 days ago
- Climate
- India Today
Asia is heating up, and India is feeling the burn
Asia is warming nearly twice as fast as the rest of the world, and the consequences are becoming harder to ignore. According to the World Meteorological Organisation's latest State of the Climate in Asia report, 2024 was among the warmest years ever recorded on the continent. The average temperature across Asia last year was about 1.04 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 is Asia heating faster?Asia has the largest landmass of any continent, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, land surfaces tend to warm more quickly than oceans. However, Asia's surrounding seas are warming up just as fast — its sea surface temperatures rose at 0.24 degrees Celsius per decade, nearly double the global average of 0.13 degrees Celsius — and offer no substantial high vulnerability India, already one of the most climate-vulnerable countries due to its vast population, coastline, and dependence on agriculture, is facing the heat. The country faced one of its longest heat waves in 2024, with temperatures soaring above 45 degrees Celsius in several states, causing more than 450 experienced extreme weather events on 322 of the 366 days in 2024, which claimed 3,472 lives and damaged 4.07 million hectares of crop area. Between March and April 17, 2025, India saw a staggering 162 deaths from lightning strikes across 12 states, a 184per cent rise compared to the same period in rainfall events have also grown more frequent and more damaging. For instance, in late July 2024, northern Kerala's Wayanad was hit by massive landslides caused by heavy rains, which claimed more than 350 lives. An analysis by the World Weather Attribution later confirmed that this rainfall was about 10 per cent more intense due to human-driven climate in 2025, India witnessed extreme weather events nearly every day of the first quarter, per the State of India's Environment In Figures 2025 report. According to the report, the toll from extreme weather events surged in just three years, with weather-linked deaths rising by 15 per cent, and crop damage more than doubled."The State of the Climate in Asia report highlights changes in key indicators such as surface temperature, glacier mass, and sea level — each carries profound implications for societies, economies, and ecosystems," warned WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. "Extreme weather is already exacting an unacceptably high toll."Adapt to surviveDespite this, climate adaptation remains underfunded. A recent World Resources Institute report found that initiatives like building climate-resilient infrastructure, expanding early warning systems, and restoring natural ecosystems don't just protect lives, but also work economically. Every $1 spent on adaptation can yield up to $10 in savings and benefits over the next floods, droughts, and heatwaves intensify across the globe, the case for acting now before the next disaster hits has never been stronger.- EndsTune InMust Watch
BBC News
4 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Heatwaves in June made 10 times more likely due to climate change
It's only days since the first UK heatwave of 2025 but, hot on its heels, a second is already very likely in some places this still only in the first month of summer, and generally our hottest weather usually occurs during July and the statistics show that June heatwaves are becoming increasingly common and some love the warmth, heatwaves can have huge consequences for us as a society, from adverse health impacts, to transport disruption and increasing the threat of wildfires. Is summer's 'coolest' month heating up? June in the UK is typically the coolest of the three summer months, with average maximum temperatures of around 18C - that's around 2C below what we expect for July. Things are changing though and a recent Met Office blog post points to "a clear upward trend" in the number of June days above 30C, external. The increase varies for different parts of the UK, but according to the post "England consistently leads in the number of 30°C+ recordings, particularly in the south-east". Climate scientists at World Weather Attribution (WWA) quantify how climate change influences the intensity and likelihood of extreme weather events. They have found that the chance of seeing three consecutive June days above 28C in south-east England (the heatwave threshold for parts of the region) is now one in every five years. During pre-industrial times south-east England only experienced these temperatures once every 50 years, meaning human induced climate change has made June heatwaves here 10 times more likely. Recent years that have had significant June heatwaves include 2017 and 2020, and 2023 holds the title for the hottest June on record. Whilst heatwaves in June are becoming more frequent, they are still not as intense as those in later in the summer, such as the record-breaking extreme heat of July 2022, when the UK recorded temperatures above 40C for the first time. What about the historic heatwave of June 1976? When intense heatwaves occur in the UK many people make comparisons with the extraordinary summer of 1976. In June that year a very long-lasting heatwave developed and it still holds the record for the hottest June day ever recorded - a scorching 35.6C in Southampton. However, when analysing historic weather data it is clear that 1976 was a significant outlier in an otherwise cooler decade. During the entire decade of the 1970s for example, Heathrow recorded just 14 June days above 28C. Compare that with the current period, and since 2020 there have already been 26 days above 28C - and we're only halfway through this decade. As our climate continues to warm what was once a rare meteorological event is now becoming a more regular feature of our early summers. How do heatwaves affect me? A dose of warm, sunny weather can really lift our mood but we can also reach a point of feeling too hot and uncomfortable and heatwaves can have serious health consequences. How well our bodies deal with heat depends on several weather factors such as humidity, wind and cloud cover. It also varies hugely between individuals, with the elderly, the very young, those who are pregnant or people with underlying health conditions, particularly Office for National Statistics estimates that during 2022 there were more than 4500 excess deaths due to heat-related illnesses in not just our health that is at risk, but also our natural environments, infrastructure and transport networks. Network Rail estimates that in 2024 delays caused by rails that buckled due to extreme heat totalled 240 2021 the Met Office has introduced warnings for extreme heat, external which can be issued to alert the general public when temperatures are forecast to rise high enough and for long enough to cause significant disruption to our lives. Lower level 'Heat Heat Alerts, external' are also issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) that are aimed at emergency responders and professionals with the health and social care sectors. How will temperatures change this week? The rest of this week will have a quite a fluctuating temperature pattern. After a cooler start, the heat will build again temporarily on Wednesday especially in the south and east. However, it's from Saturday onwards that we could see several parts of central and eastern England returning to heatwave conditions for three or more consecutive up to date with the temperatures where you are on the BBC Weather website and app.
CNN
6 days ago
- Climate
- CNN
Heat waves are getting more dangerous with climate change — and we may still be underestimating them
The intensifying and expansive heat wave affecting around 150 million people in the United States from Wisconsin to Washington, DC, bears the hallmarks of human-caused global warming. Hundreds of daily temperature records are threatened during the next few days, particularly along the East Coast, and some all-time June high temperature records could be tied or broken as well. Milestones for record warm overnight low temperatures are also being set — another sign of climate change. Nighttime temperatures have been warming faster than daytime, which exacerbates the health consequences from heat waves. This is especially the case in cities, where the urban heat island effect keeps temperatures high overnight. The US heat wave comes nearly in tandem with searing high temperatures in Western Europe, which global warming made far more likely and intense. Of all the forms of extreme weather — droughts, floods, hurricanes — heat waves are the ones that scientists can most reliably tie to climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution. As the world warms, the odds of extreme heat events increase dramatically, while the odds and severity of record cold extremes decrease. 'The physical process of how more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere lead to hotter and more frequent heatwaves is well-understood and straightforward,' said Fredi Otto, a climate scientist who leads the World Weather Attribution project, an international effort that examines the role climate change plays in individual weather events. 'Every heatwave that is occurring today is hotter than it would have been without human-induced climate change,' she said. The heat waves we are experiencing now are occurring in 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming, with even more severe heat likely in coming decades as global average temperatures continue to climb. In recent years, researchers have found that some heat waves would have been impossible without the temperature boost from global warming. Others have been made tens to hundreds of times more likely, and hotter than they would have been without the effects of climate pollution. This was the case with the Pacific Northwest heat wave of 2021, a Siberian heat wave in 2020 and a United Kingdom heat wave in 2022, among other more recent events. In short, climate change is causing heat waves to become more common, intense and longer-lasting. They are also hitting both earlier and later in the warm season, and in many parts of the world are becoming more humid, too, which makes them more dangerous. Some studies have shown that global weather patterns conducive to simultaneous heat waves on different continents, such as the US and European heat waves this month, are becoming more common during the Northern Hemisphere summer. According to a rapid scientific analysis, the UK heat wave this month, which brought temperatures up to 92 degrees Fahrenheit in Surrey, England, was 100 times more likely to occur in today's climate than prior to the human-caused global warming era. Three straight days of temperatures above 82 degrees in southeastern England are now about 100 times more likely to occur compared to the pre-global warming era, the analysis said, before humans began burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas for energy. In the US, heat waves are the deadliest form of extreme weather. The ongoing one is particularly threatening because it is the first of the season, bringing conditions more common during the peak of summer, not in June. Temperatures are set to soar near or into the triple digits along the Amtrak Acela corridor from Washington to New York City, with heat indices climbing as high as 110 degrees or even higher in some locations. Such conditions will make it dangerous to be outdoors for extended periods of time, and the lack of overnight heat relief will compound the public health threat. In most parts of the world outside of the tropics, including the US and the UK, heat waves occurring now would have been up to 7 degrees cooler without the burning of fossil fuels, Otto said. 'Through its influence on extreme heat, human-induced climate change puts a massive burden on societies, leading to thousands of premature deaths, and a large strain on infrastructure and ecosystems,' Otto said. 'In addition, extreme heat is leading to agricultural losses and a large loss in productivity.' Otto sounded an additional note of caution: Computer models 'severely underestimate' the extreme heat trends we are seeing so far, which means projections for future extreme heat are likely also underestimates. This is thought to be because of changes in air pollutants known as aerosols as well as shifts in weather patterns that may also be caused by climate change. Michael Mann, a climate researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, has also found models struggle with heat wave projections in the context of climate change. His research has found an increase in the occurrence of persistent heat domes in recent years, like the one occurring now, which have rarely been picked up by the climate models. 'Climate models are likely understating the relationship between climate change and persistent summer weather extremes today and under predicting the potential for future increases in such extremes,' he told CNN.
CNN
6 days ago
- Climate
- CNN
Heat waves are getting more dangerous with climate change — and we may still be underestimating them
The intensifying and expansive heat wave affecting around 150 million people in the United States from Wisconsin to Washington, DC, bears the hallmarks of human-caused global warming. Hundreds of daily temperature records are threatened during the next few days, particularly along the East Coast, and some all-time June high temperature records could be tied or broken as well. Milestones for record warm overnight low temperatures are also being set — another sign of climate change. Nighttime temperatures have been warming faster than daytime, which exacerbates the health consequences from heat waves. This is especially the case in cities, where the urban heat island effect keeps temperatures high overnight. The US heat wave comes nearly in tandem with searing high temperatures in Western Europe, which global warming made far more likely and intense. Of all the forms of extreme weather — droughts, floods, hurricanes — heat waves are the ones that scientists can most reliably tie to climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution. As the world warms, the odds of extreme heat events increase dramatically, while the odds and severity of record cold extremes decrease. 'The physical process of how more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere lead to hotter and more frequent heatwaves is well-understood and straightforward,' said Fredi Otto, a climate scientist who leads the World Weather Attribution project, an international effort that examines the role climate change plays in individual weather events. 'Every heatwave that is occurring today is hotter than it would have been without human-induced climate change,' she said. The heat waves we are experiencing now are occurring in 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming, with even more severe heat likely in coming decades as global average temperatures continue to climb. In recent years, researchers have found that some heat waves would have been impossible without the temperature boost from global warming. Others have been made tens to hundreds of times more likely, and hotter than they would have been without the effects of climate pollution. This was the case with the Pacific Northwest heat wave of 2021, a Siberian heat wave in 2020 and a United Kingdom heat wave in 2022, among other more recent events. In short, climate change is causing heat waves to become more common, intense and longer-lasting. They are also hitting both earlier and later in the warm season, and in many parts of the world are becoming more humid, too, which makes them more dangerous. Some studies have shown that global weather patterns conducive to simultaneous heat waves on different continents, such as the US and European heat waves this month, are becoming more common during the Northern Hemisphere summer. According to a rapid scientific analysis, the UK heat wave this month, which brought temperatures up to 92 degrees Fahrenheit in Surrey, England, was 100 times more likely to occur in today's climate than prior to the human-caused global warming era. Three straight days of temperatures above 82 degrees in southeastern England are now about 100 times more likely to occur compared to the pre-global warming era, the analysis said, before humans began burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas for energy. In the US, heat waves are the deadliest form of extreme weather. The ongoing one is particularly threatening because it is the first of the season, bringing conditions more common during the peak of summer, not in June. Temperatures are set to soar near or into the triple digits along the Amtrak Acela corridor from Washington to New York City, with heat indices climbing as high as 110 degrees or even higher in some locations. Such conditions will make it dangerous to be outdoors for extended periods of time, and the lack of overnight heat relief will compound the public health threat. In most parts of the world outside of the tropics, including the US and the UK, heat waves occurring now would have been up to 7 degrees cooler without the burning of fossil fuels, Otto said. 'Through its influence on extreme heat, human-induced climate change puts a massive burden on societies, leading to thousands of premature deaths, and a large strain on infrastructure and ecosystems,' Otto said. 'In addition, extreme heat is leading to agricultural losses and a large loss in productivity.' Otto sounded an additional note of caution: Computer models 'severely underestimate' the extreme heat trends we are seeing so far, which means projections for future extreme heat are likely also underestimates. This is thought to be because of changes in air pollutants known as aerosols as well as shifts in weather patterns that may also be caused by climate change. Michael Mann, a climate researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, has also found models struggle with heat wave projections in the context of climate change. His research has found an increase in the occurrence of persistent heat domes in recent years, like the one occurring now, which have rarely been picked up by the climate models. 'Climate models are likely understating the relationship between climate change and persistent summer weather extremes today and under predicting the potential for future increases in such extremes,' he told CNN.
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Climate change blamed for UK heatwave amid 32C temperatures
Searing temperatures of 32C hitting the UK this week have been made 100 times more likely due to human-caused climate change, scientists have warned. A rapid study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group found the current heatwave in the south-east of England was around 10 times more likely than without human activity warming the planet. Dr Fredi Otto, from Imperial College London, underscored the severity, warning that heatwaves are "silent killers" and that the impacts of heat are "severely underestimated", leaving the UK unprepared for the conditions expected to persist into the weekend. Experts highlighted that older people, along with those suffering from heart issues, respiratory illnesses, and conditions such as diabetes, face the highest risk of death. They also noted that heatwaves occurring earlier in the summer are particularly deadly, as the population is less acclimatised to coping with warmer conditions. The researchers also identified wildfires as an "emerging risk" for the UK during summer, with conditions increasingly resembling those found in southern Europe. They urged the public to exercise extreme caution with barbecues, cigarettes, and glass, all of which can ignite fires in the hot, dry weather. This study marks only the second time the WWA, known for its rapid assessments of climate change's role in specific extreme weather events, has analysed a forecasted event rather than one that has already occurred. The analysis, which drew on observations for early summer heat in the south east of the UK, found that a heatwave – defined as three days of temperatures above 28C for the region – in June would be expected once every five years today. But without humans warming the atmosphere by around 1.3C since pre-industrial times, such a heatwave would only have occurred about once every 50 years, the study shows. The heatwave was made approximately 2-4C more intense as a result of the overall warming of the planet, meaning the current weather 'just wouldn't have been a heatwave without human-induced warming', Dr Ben Clarke, from Imperial College London, said. Temperatures had been forecast to hit 32C across the south east on Saturday and had already reached that level on Thursday in London. Heat of that level could be expected in June once in 25 years in the current climate, but only once in 2,500 years in June before industrialisation, the researchers said. While the impacts of temperatures rising above 30C are not as severe as the record-breaking heat topping 40C in some places in July 2022, the researchers warned people were still at risk. They urged people to ensure they were drinking enough water, and to encourage elderly relatives to do the same, avoid areas with high air pollution, keep windows and curtains shut during the day, and consider going to cooler public buildings such as museums to protect against the heat. Dr Clarke, researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, said: 'This heatwave is another reminder that our planet has already heated to a dangerous level. 'We're at 1.3C today, but heading for around 3C this century. 'With every fraction of a degree of warming, the UK will experience hotter, more dangerous heatwaves. 'That means more heat deaths, more pressure on the NHS, more transport disruptions, tougher work conditions and poorer air quality.' Dr Otto, associate professor in climate science at the Centre for Environmental Policy, said: 'We know exactly what has intensified this heatwave – burning oil, gas and coal, which has loaded the atmosphere with planet-heating greenhouse gases. 'It is totally insane we have political leaders in the UK trying to drag us back to the past with calls for more fossil fuels. 'The climate will continue to drive increasingly dangerous heatwaves, fires and floods in the UK until emissions are reduced to net zero globally.' She added that while people working in air-conditioned offices would 'probably be OK' this week, poorer people working outdoors, in kitchens or other hot environments and then returning home to poorly insulated flats would be enduring hot conditions throughout. 'Making our societies more equal is essential to reduce the impacts of climate change,' Dr Otto said.
