FILE - Tourists visit the ancient Acropolis hill during a heat wave in Athens, Greece, on July 21, 2023. Climate change is making heat waves crawl slower across the globe and last longer with higher temperatures over larger areas, a new study finds.
Eurasia was especially hit harder with longer lasting heat waves, the study said. Heat waves slowed down most in Africa, while North America and Australia saw the biggest increases in overall magnitude, which measures temperature and area, according to the study. “Those heat waves are traveling slower and so slower so that basically means that ... there's a heat wave sitting there and those heat waves could stay longer in the region," Zhang said."And the adverse impacts on our human society would be huge and increasing over the years.”