Global Spotlight Report #77: Climate Change and Extreme Summer Heat

Brazil’s intense summer heat brings a series of significant challenges and impacts. We will explore these issues and discuss the policies and programs implemented to address these problems. Rising summer temperatures can lead to extreme heat waves, especially in Brazil’s North, Northeast, Center-West and Southeast regions. These high temperatures directly affect people’s health. Excessive heat…

2023 was the warmest year on record for the planet. Gordon McBean, Western professor emeritus recognized for his many global efforts as well states: “Canada, with its large land mass, much at higher northern latitudes, is warming twice as fast as the global average – and the Canadian Arctic, three to four times faster.” Adding…

With its vast geographical expanse and diverse climate zones, China experiences significant challenges during the summer season. The rise in temperature affects people and animals, forests, arable land, rivers, coastlines, mountain regions, etc. It causes environmental stress, public health and food security issues, and huge economic losses. According to a 2021 Greenpeace study, more climate…

As climate change continues to spur record-high summer temperatures, it is clear that the EU is underprepared to face the increased disaster and mortality risks that these temperatures bring. The EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service and the World Meteorological Organization noted that the EU’s July 2023 heatwave caused 41% of Europe to be classified as…

The heat has increased steadily these past few years, and France is no exception. Heat waves have been destroying crops and killing people. There is a count of 33,000 heatwave excess deaths in France since 2004. The regions most at risk are Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Île-de-France, Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Corsica, and Centre-Val de Loire due to…

Germany has experienced a series of extreme heat-related conditions, which have significantly impacted public health, agriculture, and the environment. These conditions include record-breaking temperatures, prolonged droughts, wildfires, and flooding. “Temperatures that can harm health have become more common in Germany. Six out of the eleven most extreme heat waves between 1951 and 2015 occurred after 2000. Since 1990, what were previously…

India has been hit hard by one of its worst heat waves this year, especially in the northern, western, and national capital regions. It has experienced consistent temperatures of 50ºC and above. In June this year, an outlier temperature above 52ºC was reported in Delhi, with city authorities warning of risks of water shortages and…

The equatorial heat wave, particularly in Indonesia, highlights the severe impact of climate change. Millions are affected by the El Niño-driven heatwaves. Typically, Indonesia’s average temperature is around 26.6°C, but recent data shows an increase to 27°C, with a peak of 38.7°C recorded at Kertajati Meteorological Station in West Java on October 9, 2023. A…

Mexico is constrained in addressing extreme heat due to funding constraints, coordination issues, and the scale of the challenges posed by climate change. Mexico faces many challenges due to rising summer temperatures due to climate change. Here’s a breakdown of the problems and the government’s efforts to tackle them: Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and…

Infants, children, pregnant women, and the elderly suffer the most from the intense heat, often finding little relief.   Nigeria is under relentless heatwaves, with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) issuing urgent warnings about ongoing extreme temperatures. As of February 13, 2024, NiMET reported that temperatures across the nation have reached record highs, with peaks…

Saudi Arabia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the Gulf region to climate change. Temperatures in Saudi Arabia are warming at a rate 50% higher than in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. If the trend of rising temperatures persists or accelerates, human survival in this region will be impossible without continuous access…

Sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing more frequent and more intense climate extremes over the past decades. Over Southern Africa, temperatures are expected to rise faster at 2° C, and areas of the southwestern region, especially in South Africa and parts of Namibia and Botswana, are expected to experience the greatest temperature increases. South Africa has…

However, the mitigation measures implemented thus far are insufficient.   Spain ranks first among European countries where heat-related mortality has increased the most during this century. This is highlighted in the second report of ‘The Lancet Countdown’ indicators in Europe, led by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) in collaboration with 40 other European…

Between 2010 and 2022, climate change has caused the ten hottest years on record. With the influence of El Nino in 2023, which saw temperature records broken on 179 days in one year, it became the hottest year on record, and it is expected that temperature records will likely continue through the summer of 2024….

The UK Meteorological Office annually publishes a report called “UK State of the Climate” using data records from the land weather station network and the HadUK-Grid dataset. These reports compare annual weather and climate data to the recorded historical averages to find out and record changes in the climate. These reports have shown that since 1884,…

The United States is a large country spanning thousands of miles across the North American continent, including the state of Alaska and the island chain of Hawaii. Many problems exist in the United States regarding drastic weather events, including wildfires, flooding, extreme heat, and drought. Although some of these severe weather events used to be…