Climate Wire | Scientists say the record-breaking heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest in 2021 taught an important lesson. Places that have never had to deal with extreme heat before may not be prepared for it.
This was true across the lush temperate regions of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Prior to the deadly heatwaves in these areas, air conditioning was seen as a luxury rather than a necessity. June 2021 sees temperatures soar well over 100 degrees across much of the region, hitting all-time highs in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, and a staggering 121 degrees in the small village of Lytton, British Columbia. reached.
Hundreds died as a result.
Going forward, heat waves in the Pacific Northwest should be viewed as warnings for the rest of the world, new research says. Record-breaking heatwaves continue around the world. However, there are many areas that may not be equipped to deal with such dangers simply because they have not yet experienced them.
“Countries tend to prepare for the level of the greatest event they’ve experienced in their collective memory,” a study released Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications,state.
If the most serious events a country has experienced are actually not that extreme compared to what could happen in the future, there may still be work to be done to prepare.
Regions with large or rapidly growing populations are at even greater risk, as more people will be affected by future heatwaves. Moreover, developing countries may not have sufficient resources and infrastructure to adapt to extreme weather and implement heat contingency plans.
Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Central America are some of the places most at risk of extreme heat, according to a new study. These regions are likely to experience record heat waves and communities may not be prepared.
These are places that have been, in some ways, “lucky” so far, the paper suggests. They have yet to experience a heatwave that would be considered shockingly out of the norm for their area.
But those extreme situations can come. And “we need to ask whether heat planning in these areas is adequate,” said study lead author Vicky Thompson, a climate scientist at the University of Bristol in the UK, in a statement.
Thompson and other study authors have compiled a list of the highest daily temperatures recorded in regions around the world from 1959 to 2021. Special statistical methods were then used to mathematically assess the likelihood of extreme events occurring relative to other regions. historical record.
Some events turned out to be “incredible” compared to the rest of the record. They were very extreme and statistically very unlikely to occur at all.The 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave is the most extreme example in the world.
Overall, we found that almost a third of the surveyed areas were already experiencing extreme heat waves. These locations are all over the world and don’t seem to be concentrated in any particular region. This suggests that the entire planet could be at risk of unprecedented heatwaves in the future.
However, many other regions have yet to experience this kind of extreme situation. And the authors argue that these locations are likely ill-prepared for record-breaking heat.
Vulnerable regions include developed countries such as Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Australia. But it also occurs in more remote areas with poor infrastructure or high population, such as parts of China and the Russian Far East.
This study takes a slightly different approach than many other extreme heat studies that focus on places where record-breaking events have already occurred. Research suggests that areas that aren’t there may be those that need the most attention.
Otherwise, you may be unprepared when extreme heat hits.
The Pacific Northwest is just one example of a region that has learned from experience. Cities such as Seattle and Portland have been mobilized to better coordinate emergency plans for extreme heat events since 2021. King County, Washington, for example, announced its first-ever extreme heat mitigation strategy last year.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2023. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
