New York: Extreme heat is breaking records around the world, with wildfires and poor air quality compounding the crisis, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released Thursday.
According to EMM, extreme temperatures caused approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths annually between 2000 and 2019, with 36 per cent occurring in Europe and 45 per cent in Asia. The health impacts of heat are especially severe in cities due to the urban heat island effect, which is exacerbating problems as urbanization continues. Southeast Europe also faced severe heatwaves and wildfires, with Türkiye recording a new national high of 50.5 degrees Celsius (122.9 degrees Fahrenheit).
In Asia, temperatures soared above average across the Himalayas, China, and Japan in July, with the extreme heat persisting into August. In the week leading up to August 5, temperatures exceeded 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) across West Asia, Southern Central Asia, the southwestern US, much of North Africa, and Southern Pakistan. Some regions experienced temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), with parts of southwestern Iran and eastern Iraq witnessing particularly severe conditions impacting electricity, water supplies, education, and labor.
For the week of August 4, Morocco issued heat warnings for temperatures up to 47 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit), while Korea issued widespread heat warnings as station temperature records were broken across parts of China. Japan set a new national temperature record of 41.8 degrees Celsius (107.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 5, surpassing the previous record of 41.2 degrees Celsius set a week prior.
Looking ahead, the World Meteorological Centre in Beijing forecasts persistent heatwaves across the same regions as well as the Iberian Peninsula and northern Mexico. These areas are expected to see maximum temperatures between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius (100.4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit), with parts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, North Africa, and the southwestern U.S. likely to exceed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
Canada is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, with 6.6 million hectares burned, leading to poor air quality across several provinces and northern states of the US in late July and early August. Twice this summer, smoke from Canadian fires crossed the Atlantic, affecting skies over Western Europe from August 5-7 and over Central and Southern Europe in late June.
In addition, Cyprus, Greece, and Türkiye have battled wildfires that forced evacuations and caused fatalities. In the US, a wildfire in Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park disrupted tourism at the iconic site.
Extreme heat is often referred to as the silent killer, but with today’s scientific advancements, data, and technologies, silence is no longer an excuse. “Every single death from extreme heat is preventable,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett. The WMO is working to strengthen heat early warning systems and provide timely alerts to at-risk populations. It is also one of ten UN agencies supporting the Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat, which focuses on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
According to estimates from WMO and the World Health Organization (WHO), scaling up heat-health warning systems in 57 countries could save nearly 100,000 lives annually. “Our Network is connecting science, policy, and action so that no community is left behind in the race to adapt to climate change that will continue to worsen extreme heat for years to come,” said Joy Shumake-Guillemot, lead of the WHO-WMO Climate and Health Joint Programme and co-lead of the Global Heat-Health Information Network (GHHIN). “This is not just a climate issue, it’s a public health emergency,” she concluded.