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Tag: heatwaves

Published on Leave a comment on We’re On Track For Each Summer to Be Hotter Than Ever

This past Monday (July 3) the average temperature on Earth was the hottest day ever recorded. But then...Tuesday broke Monday's records for hottest day for Earth. It hit 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius)

Welcome to the new normal. In fact, this summer could be the coolest summer of the rest of your life! Get ready for more and longer heat waves. For summer to start earlier, last longer, and be hotter.

Why is this occurring? Climate change. All the scientific predictions are coming true. And yet the US government, politicians, big business, and all of us are refusing to take real action. We need a huge reduction of fossil fuel emissions and new technologies to pull carbon dioxide out of the air to stop extreme climate changes from occurring.

Several good articles about what is going on: 1) From The Guardian: Tuesday was world’s hottest day on record – breaking Monday’s record

World temperature records have been broken for a second day in a row, data suggests, as experts issued a warning that this year’s warmest days are still to come – and with them the warmest days ever recorded.

2) From the Washington Post: This July 4 was hot. Earth’s hottest day on record, in fact.

... some scientists believe July 4 may have been one of the hottest days on Earth in about 125,000 years, due to a dangerous combination of climate change causing global temperatures to soar, the return of the El Niño pattern and the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.  ...continue reading "We’re On Track For Each Summer to Be Hotter Than Ever"

Published on Leave a comment on High Heat and Pregnancy

High heat is not good for a developing baby during pregnancy. And neither is air pollution. A just published large study concluded that higher temperatures from climate change and increased air pollution (from ozone and fine particulates PM2.5) increases the risk of giving birth to premature, underweight, or stillborn children.

The researchers analyzed 68 studies, for a total of 32,798,152 births in the United States. Almost 33 million births! Another important finding was that those at highest risk were persons with asthma and minority groups, especially black mothers.

The researchers point out that animal studies find the same things: "that both air pollutant and heat exposure may contribute to adverse obstetrical outcomes". So there is lots of support for these findings of harmful effects.

Another recent study (by Univ. of California researchers) drew similar conclusions: that exposure to heatwaves during the week before birth was strongly linked to an increased risk of preterm delivery. And the hotter the temperature or the longer the heatwave, the greater the risk.

Since the long-term forecast is for increasing temperatures and longer duration heat waves throughout the world, these findings are very worrisome.

The study published in the JAMA Network Open (a Journal of the American Medical Association): Association of Air Pollution and Heat Exposure With Preterm Birth, Low Birth Weight, and Stillbirth in the USA: Systematic Review

A NY Times discussion of the findings: Climate Change Tied to Pregnancy Risks, Affecting Black Mothers Most

Discussion of earlier study (Feb. 2020) from Science Daily: Heatwave exposure linked to increased risk of preterm birth in California