In the age of climate change, what counts as a heat wave? - WBUR News
In the age of climate change, what counts as a heat wave? | Here & Now
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For weeks now, a swath of the country — from Southern California to Texas to Florida — has been in the grips of extreme heat. Phoenix hit a new record of 20 days in a row of temperatures over 110 degrees. As we adapt to the impact of climate change and hotter temperatures become more frequent, what does a heat wave mean now?
Here & Now's Celeste Headlee talks with Grist reporter Kate Yoder.
This segment aired on July 19, 2023.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.