A hot day by 2100 may have extra 4 hours of extreme heat if high emissions continue: study
A new study published in Nature Climate Change warns that high-emissions scenarios could lead to an additional four hours of extreme heat per day by 2100. Researchers emphasize that hourly heat metrics provide a more accurate picture of climate risk than traditional daily averages.
Why it matters
Understanding hourly heat extremes is critical for public health planning and protecting vulnerable populations from climate-related health risks.
A hot day could be expected to have an extra four hours of extreme heat by the end of the century if the planet continues to warm under a high-emissions scenario, a study has found.
Researchers, including those from China's Sun Yat-sen University and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, also projected that days not categorised as 'hot days' -- having a heat exceeding 90 per cent of those on previously measured days -- could potentially gain a further three hot hours.
Low and middle-income countries are likely to be the worst hit, findings published in the journal Nature Climate Change show.
Extreme heat events are typically assessed using daily mean average, maximum, or minimum temperatures. However, the measures can neglect shorter but potentially important periods of extreme heat, the researchers said.
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