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And are now listed as no guidance not applicable on the cdc’s website. a new report finds nearly half of the world’s population have been forced to endure an extra month of extreme heat due to climate change, researchers with climate central, the red cross, red crescent climate center and the world weather attribution found some 4 billion people experienced at least 30 days of extreme heat between may of 24 and 2025, and 195 countries or territories.
Climate change doubled the amount of extreme heat days. the 67 extreme heat events studied were all found to be caused by climate change in the u.s., while we experienced 46 total days of temperatures above the 90th percentile, with 24 of those days found to be added by climate change. christina joins us now.
She’s the vice president for science at climate central and was a reviewer of this report. thank you for being with us on this important topic. why was this study conducted and how did you go about it? >> well, this. >> in advance of global heat action day, which is june 2nd this year. and the reason we wanted to focus on extreme heat is because it is in the united states.
The main contributor to weather related deaths. so more people in an average year in the u.s. die from extreme heat than any other type of extreme weather, including wildfires and hurricanes and things that often get more attention in the news. and so we felt it was important to draw attention to the ways in which climate change is really amplifying the risks of extreme heat and the fact that across the globe over the last 12 months, there’s really no corner of the globe that hasn’t been touched by this.
Let’s talk about that. what areas did you find were the hardest hit? >> yeah, we found that the hardest hit countries, the countries that saw the biggest increase in extreme heat days due to climate change, were basically around the equator in these tropical latitudes. so places like the caribbean, central america, northern africa all were hit hardest by this increase in extreme heat due to climate change.
But that’s not to say that other countries, like the united states weren’t affected at all, because many of many of our countries in more temperate climates were as well. >> what about the u.s.? i mentioned the number of days above the 90th percentile. break that down for us. >> yeah, so we looked at days above the 90th percentile. and that means that these are the top 10% of hottest days. and what we found is that there’s variability across the united states. the southwestern portion along the border with mexico, saw more days added by climate change that that exceed this 90th percentile threshold than most of the other parts of the country.
But on average, the country as a whole saw about 24 additional days of extreme heat over the last 12 months just due to climate change. >> people in my hometown of phoenix, i’m sure, say, and we had way more than 24. what are the ongoing threats that extreme heat poses, and
What are some of the recommendations from the report?
Extreme heat can pose a range of different health risks, and some of them are just kind of mere annoyances. unless you’re in a situation like doing construction on a roof or high up on a ladder. so some of these minor symptoms of extreme heat exposure can be things like dizziness or confusion or exhaustion.
But the hotter it gets and the longer your body is exposed to extreme heat, the worse the health impacts can be, and they can lead all the way to heat stroke, which can be fatal. and there are groups of people who are more vulnerable to these extreme heat risks than others. so if you are a child or an elderly adult or if you have preexisting health conditions like cardiovascular disease or respiratory disease, those can all be risk factors for experiencing severe here.
