Lethal 95F Wet-Bulb Temperatures Flickering Into View In ME, Mexico; Much Worse Likely On Its Way
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The wet-bulb temperature that marks the upper limit of what the human body can handle is 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius). But any temperatures above 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) can be dangerous and deadly. Horton and other scientists noted in a 2020 paper that these temperatures are occurring with increasing frequency in parts of the world. To put things in perspective, the highest wet-bulb temperature ever recorded in the Washington region, known for its muggy, unbearable summers, was 87.2 degrees (30.7 Celsius).
“Extreme humid heat overall has more than doubled in frequency since 1979,” the study’s authors wrote. These conditions are reaching that deadly threshold in places like South Asia and the Middle East and could regularly cross it by 2075, scientists say. Horton and his colleagues found parts of the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan have each passed the 95 degree mark for one or two hours more than three times since 1987.
On the coast of the Gulf of California, in the Mexican state of Sonora, scientists are also seeing a “very significant” increase in wet-bulb and air temperatures, said Tereza Cavazos, a senior researcher in the department of physical oceanography at the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education. During the summer, parts of the gulf can reach temperatures of 86 to 87.8 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 31 degrees Celsius), which causes the water to evaporate more quickly. The combination of warmer waters and increasing heat trends in Sonora are causing the wet-bulb temperatures to reach dangerous levels.
“Just increasing 1 or 2 degrees Celsius can be the tipping point for changing the impact,” Cavazos said. The blistering heat is resulting in difficult living conditions, especially for communities that lack resources to provide relief.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/climate-change-humidity/?itid=hp_dontmiss