A new report was just released at the same time that some of us are experiencing a sweltering glimpse into our Climate Future.
A new report was just released at the same time that some of us are experiencing a sweltering glimpse into our Climate Future.
In the next 30 years, we could see an increase in heat waves like the one now occurring in the eastern United States or the kind that swept across Europe in 2003 that caused tens of thousands of fatalities ... Those kinds of severe heat events also put enormous stress on major crops like corn, soybean, cotton, and wine grapes, causing a significant reduction in yields.
That August 2003 heat wave in Europe resulted in the deaths of 35,000. The new Stanford Study, Reported on this occasion in Grist magazine suggests
Temperatures equaling the hottest season on record from 1951 to 1999 could occur four times between now and 2019 over much of the U.S., according to the researchers.
The 2020s and 2030s could be even hotter, particularly in the American West. From 2030 to 2039, most areas of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico could endure at least seven seasons equally as intense as the hottest season ever recorded between 1951 and 1999, the researchers concluded.
"Frankly, I was expecting that we'd see large temperature increases later this century with higher greenhouse gas levels and global warming," Diffenbaugh said. "I did not expect to see anything this large within the next three decades. This was definitely a surprise.
"It sounds like a return to the Dust Bowl days. We should begin to save our water now or perhaps begin to act on the problem of Global Warming