Since 1979, climate change has made heat waves last longer and spike hotter, study says

By Seth Borenstein, Associated PressA security guard wearing an electric fan on his neck wipes his sweat on a hot day in Beijing, July 3, 2023.

Studies have shown heat waves worsening before, but this one is more comprehensive and concentrates heavily on not just temperature and area, but how long the high heat lasts and how it travels across continents, said study co-authors and climate scientists Wei Zhang of Utah State University and Gabriel Lau of Princeton University.

“This paper sends a clear warning that climate change makes heat waves yet more dangerous in more ways than one,” said Lawrence Berkeley National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner, who wasn’t part of the research. The study also looks at the changes in weather patterns that propagate heat waves. Atmospheric waves that move weather systems along, such as the jet stream, are weakening, so they are not moving heat waves along as quickly — west to east in most but not all continents, Zhang said.

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Study: Climate change since 1979 has made heat waves last longer, spike hotterHeat waves slowed down most in Africa, while North America and Australia saw the biggest increases in overall magnitude.
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