The headlines coming out of India as it grappled with an extreme heatwave the past few days have been alarming.
Heat is the silent killer that is responsible for more deaths than any other natural disaster. Several severe European heat waves in recent decades, including last summer, have claimed tens of thousands of excess deaths.But worse is coming and we need to prepare for it. But enough global warming could push heat waves in many areas past 35°C. This upended the widely held assumption at the time that humans could adapt to any amount of increased heat, i.e., that the goalposts would move. This goalpost will not.It is a combination of heat and humidity: A high wet bulb can occur in humid places at lower temperatures, as well as in dry places at extremely high temperatures.
It remains challenging to measure or predict extreme heat’s overall cost to the community in terms of health, work and quality of life.