In the hottest parts of the world, high temperatures and humidity will, for longer stretches, surpass a threshold that even young and healthy people could struggle to survive as the planet warms, study says

The paper is here

Figure 1 shows the locations:

Annual hot-hours under (A) 1.5, (B) 2, (C) 3, and (D) 4 °C of warming relative to preindustrial level

7 points

That Post article seems unreasonably optimistic.

permalink
report
reply
1 point

And if the Himalayas are in trouble… it seems like there is a serious problem with the model?

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

I think the brightly colored area may be the comparatively lower land just south of the Himalaya. The mountains can act as a backstop that allows heat and pollution to build up to intolerable levels while the air is not able to easily mix with cleaner and cooler air to the north.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

It’s the area just south of the mountains, not the high-elevation areas.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

they forgot to take away the netherlands, it will be unliveable (for humans, not so much for fish), once they get succumbed by the sea.

permalink
report
reply
2 points

I think they’re only looking at places where the combination of heat, humidity, and duration will kill people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

As an Italian currently staying in the Netherlands for work, let me tell you for now this is heaven compared to home. We’ll see whether Poseidon will have what it takes to take the win over the Dutch in the future.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Why is the eastern US (say, Tennessee) at greater risk than areas at the same latitude in the western US? Humidity?

You would think places like Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado would be high risk, being deserts.

Why does the eastern US have higher humidity than the western US? Lack of mountains?

permalink
report
reply
8 points
*

Humidity is a big part of it; it’s the combination of temperature, humidity, and time that can make resting in the shade with access to drinking water lethal

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Tl;dr: gulf stream & Appalachian mtns

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

humidity is exactly it – the article mentions wet bulb temperature – your body relies on evaporation for cooling – you can survive insanely high temperatures in a desert (ex. Sahara gets up to 130°F) as long as you can sweat and cool off, but if the humidity is too high (ex. tropics), your sweat doesn’t evaporate, not only do you not cool off but you start heating up faster (article mentions that this can start as low as 88°F)

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

Yeah yeah we’ve all heard of Gary, Indiana and Eugene, Oregon

permalink
report
reply

Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

!climate@slrpnk.net

Create post

Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.

Community stats

  • 4.3K

    Monthly active users

  • 6.2K

    Posts

  • 29K

    Comments

Community moderators