“The number of potentially fatal humidity and heat events doubled between 1979 and 2017, and are increasing in both frequency and intensity.” (1/x) theguardian.com/environment/20…
“In the US, the south-eastern coastal corner from eastern Texas to the Florida Panhandle experienced such extreme conditions dozens of times, with New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi the hardest hit.”
“The most extreme incidents occurred along the Persian Gulf, where the heat and humidity combination surpassed the theoretical human survivability limit on 14 occasions.”
“Doha, the capital of Qatar, where the World Cup will be held in 2022, was among the places to suffer – albeit briefly – these potentially fatal weather events.”
“The ominous findings come as something of a surprise to scientists, as previous studies had projected such extreme weather events would occur later in the century, mostly in parts of the tropics and subtropics where humidity is already a problem.”
“‘We may be closer to a real tipping point than we think,’ said co-author Radley Horton. Climatologist Kristina Dahl said the new paper shows ‘how close communities around the world are to the limits.’” (X/x)
