Summer has barely started in the Northern Hemisphere, but already it’s offering an oppressive preview of life on a hotter planet.
Europe has endured two deadly, record-shattering heat waves in a matter of weeks, with a third on the way next week. Now, the United States is experiencing its own blast of dangerous heat, particularly in the East, which is facing skyrocketing temperatures and high humidity.
These episodes have been triggered by intense heat domes — stubborn areas of high pressure that lock hot air in place — and are clearly supercharged by global warming, experts say.
The strengthening of El Niño and record-high worldwide ocean temperatures could be amplifying the heat, too.
“There’s no question that record sea surface temperatures like we’re seeing right now — which are due partly to El Niño, and partly to longer-term human-caused warming — fuel more extreme weather, since warmer oceans mean more moisture in the atmosphere which is available to intensify storms systems and produce heavy rainfall,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.
