Extreme Heat Is Becoming More Frequent and Intense, UN Weather Agency Warns

Periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday, August 11, Reuters reported from Geneva. The warning lands as a brutal European summer sets records and drives a growing public health toll.

Europe's Deadliest Summer in Years

Heat has killed more than 25,000 people across Europe this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and reported by CNN on August 10, with western Europe breaking temperature records in a summer plagued by wildfires and drought. Reuters photographs showed firefighters working a wildfire-affected area near Le Temple in France's Gironde region amid worsening drought and water shortages.

Records Fall Across the Continent

The southern South Korean city of Yangsan set an all-time national record of 42.5C (108.5F) in early August — the highest temperature measured in 122 years of weather observations — as extreme heat shifted west across the country, The Guardian reported. Dutch bank Triodos said in a report that extreme heat and drought affecting large parts of Europe this summer could erase much of the region's expected economic growth.

The WMO warning adds to a growing body of evidence that heatwaves — once rare events — are becoming a recurring seasonal hazard for populated regions across the Northern Hemisphere.