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Increasing health risks due to intensified heatwaves, WMO

As global temperatures reach unprecedented levels, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Tuesday warned of an increased risk of death as intense heatwaves continued to grip parts of Europe, Asia, North Africa and the United States.

“Heatwaves are amongst the deadliest natural hazards, with hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths each year. It's a rather poorly understood hazard,” said John Nairn, WMO’s Senior Extreme Heat Advisor. “Heat is a rapidly growing health risk due to increased or rapid urbanization, the increasing extreme temperatures and an ageing population.”

According to WMO, this year’s extensive and intense heatwaves are alarming - but not unexpected - as they are in line with forecasts. Scorching conditions “are not your normal weather systems of the past” and are with us “as a consequence of climate change”, Mr. Nairn insisted. “You are losing the North Pole ice and that is reinforcing that mechanism. It will continue and it will continue for some time.”

Temperatures in North America, Asia and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40° C for a prolonged number of days.

Phoenix in Arizona has suffered temperatures of 46,7 °C during the day and overnight temperatures of 32.2° C. The italian island of Sardinia is expected to see a high of 46 °C this afternoon and Spain has faced consecutive heat waves with temperatures yesterday reaching 44°C.

Highlighting how serious the impacts of heatwaves are on people, economies, the natural built environment, WMO’s Mr. Nairn noted that last summer’s European heatwaves claimed an additional 60,000 lives “That number is considered to be quite conservative,” he said, adding that the European toll happened data comes despite the fact that the continent has some of the strongest early warning systems and heat-health action plans in the world.

“We are seeing continuing growth in the frequency, duration and intensity of heatwaves. And this is entirely consistent with the science of global warming and (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) IPCC reports. These events will continue to grow in intensity, and the world needs to prepare for more intense heatwaves,” said Mr. Nairn.

The WMO expert added that “the recently declared El Niño is only expected to amplify the occurrence and intensity of extreme heat events. So, we're in for a bit of a ride, I'm afraid. And they will have quite serious impacts on human health and livelihoods.”

Replying to a journalist’s question on how the current heatwave had developed, Mr. Nairn pointed to “parked weather systems that accumulate a lot of sunshine and heat in one location that moves extremely slowly…You have to reverse it. You have to do climate repair to change it. So, it is global warming and is going to continue for some time.”

Overnight temperatures are expected to reach new highs in future, according to WMO, which is particularly concerning because repeated high night-time temperatures provide no respite to vulnerable people who face an increased risk of heart attacks and death.

Describing the heatwave as an “invisible emergency”, Panu Saaristo, Emergency Health Unit Team leader from the international Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that it was crucial to look out for people who were vulnerable because of poor health, but also their socio-economic conditions and living arrangements, “which can also induce risks”.

Low-income neighbourhoods in European cities currently bear the brunt of this invisible emergency, the ICRC official added, noting that heatwaves “also impact other areas of society through reduced economic output, strained health systems and even power outages”.

WMO stressed that worldwide, more intense and extreme heat is unavoidable and that it is imperative to prepare and adapt as cities, homes, workplaces are not built to withstand prolonged high temperatures. Vulnerable people are not sufficient aware of the serious health risk that heat poses to their health and well-being.

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Heatwaves and Health WMO - IFRC 18 July 2023

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