A great heat wave has already affected most of the United States in less than a month of summer 2024. In early July, millions of people in the western United States were under heat warnings, and millions more are sweltering in the East’s oppressive heat.
On July 7, a day after a motorcyclist died in Death Valley from heat exhaustion, the temperature there reached a deadly 129 degrees Fahrenheit (53.9 degrees Celsius). With a temperature of 120 F (48.9 C), Las Vegas shattered its record heat. Days of heat over 100 degrees Celsius dried up the landscape in many sections of California, causing wildfires to intensify. Multiple suspected heat deaths were reported from Oregon.
Extreme heat like this has been hitting countries across the planet in 2024.
According to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service, every one of the last 13 months has been the hottest on record for that particular month globally, including the hottest June. On July 8, 2024, the service announced that the previous year’s average temperature had also been at least 1.5 C (2.7 F) warmer than the pre-industrial average for the years 1850–1900.
Let’s examine the meaning of the warming threshold of 1.5 C in more detail as it can be somewhat ambiguous. Countries all across the world committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 C in the Paris Climate Agreement; however, it only applies to average temperature changes over a 30-year period. To reduce the impact of annual variations that occur naturally, a 30-year average is employed.
Earth has only crossed that threshold once, for a single year, thus far. It is still quite worrying, though, as it looks like the planet will surpass the 1.5 C 30-year average threshold in the next ten years.
In 2024, a number of countries in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia experienced record heat. A prolonged drought and weeks of intense heat that began in spring 2024 in Mexico and Central America resulted in acute water shortages and numerous deaths.
In Saudi Arabia, the intense heat caused more than a thousand pilgrims on the Hajj, the Muslim journey to Mecca, to collapse and pass away. On June 17, temperatures at the Grand Mosque in Mecca rose to 125 F (51.8 C).
Following weeks of intense heat, frequent power outages, and water shortages in some regions, hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan, were overcrowded. Millions of people, many without air conditioning, were hit by temperatures in neighbouring India that hovered over 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) for many days in April and May.
Many visitors died, or were thought to have perished, after hiking in Greece during days when the temperature reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) in June.
Early July saw record high temperatures in Japan, prompting the country to issue heatstroke alerts in over half of its regions, including Tokyo.
Although this summer is probably going to be among the hottest on record, it’s vital to remember that it might also be among the coldest summers in the future.
The hazards are increased for groups that are particularly susceptible to heat, such as small children, the elderly, and people who work outside. Conditions will become more perilous for those living in lower-class neighbourhoods where air conditioning may not be affordable and for renters who frequently lack the same protections for cooling as for heating.
Extreme heat can also affect economies. It can buckle railroad tracks and cause wires to sag, leading to transit delays and disruptions. It can also overload electric systems with high demand and lead to blackouts just when people have the greatest need for cooling.
