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<\/div>\nHuman-caused climate change dialed up the thermostat and turbocharged the odds of this month\u2019s killer heat that has been baking the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America, a new flash study found.<\/p>\n
Sizzling daytime temperatures that triggered cases of heat stroke in parts of the United States were 35 times more likely and 2.5 degrees hotter (1.4 degrees Celsius) because of the warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, World Weather Attribution,<\/a> a collection of scientists that run rapid and non-peer reviewed climate attribution studies, calculated Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an oven here; you can\u2019t stay here,\u201d 82-year-old Magarita Salazar P\u00e9rez of Veracruz, Mexico, said in her home with no air conditioning. Last week, the Sonoran Desert hit 125 degrees (51.9 degrees Celsius), the hottest day in Mexican history, according to study co-author Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at Climate Central.<\/p>\n And it was even worse at night, which is what made this heat wave so deadly, said Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto, who coordinates the attribution study team. Climate change made nighttime temperatures 2.9 degrees (1.6 degrees Celsius) warmer and unusual evening heat 200 more times more likely, she said.<\/p>\n There\u2019s just been no cool air at night like people are used to, Salazar P\u00e9rez said. Doctors say cooler night temperatures are key to surviving a heat wave.<\/p>\n At least 125 people have died so far, according to the World Weather Attribution team.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is clearly related to climate change, the level of intensity that we are seeing, these risks,\u201d said study co-author Karina Izquierdo, a Mexico City-based urban advisor for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Centre.<\/p>\n The alarming part about this heat wave, which technically is still cooking the North American continent, is that it\u2019s no longer that out of the ordinary anymore, Otto said. Past studies by the group have looked at heat so extreme that they found it impossible without climate change, but this heat wave not so much.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a sort of weather perspective in that sense it wasn\u2019t rare, but the impacts were actually really bad,\u201d Otto told The Associated Press in an interview.<\/p>\n \u201cThe changes we have seen in the last 20 years, which feels like just yesterday, are so strong,\u201d Otto said. Her study found that this heat wave is now four times more likely to happen now than it was in the year 2000 when it was nearly a degree (0.5 degrees Celsius) cooler than now. \u201cIt seems sort of far away and a different world.\u201d<\/p>\n While other groups of international scientists \u2014 and the global carbon emissions reduction target adopted by countries in the 2015 Paris climate agreement \u2014 refer to warming since pre-industrial time in mid 1800s, Otto said comparing what\u2019s happening now to the year 2000 is more striking.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at a shifting baseline \u2013 what was once extreme but rare is becoming increasingly common,\u201d said University of Southern California Marine Studies Chair Carly Kenkel, who wasn\u2019t part of the attribution team\u2019s study. She said the analysis is \u201cthe logical conclusion based on the data.\u201d<\/p>\n The study looked at a large swath of the continent, including southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize and Honduras and the hottest five consecutive days and hottest five consecutive nights. For most of the area, those five days ran from June 3 to 7 and those five nights were June 5 to 9, but in a few places the peak heat started May 26, Otto said.<\/p>\n For example, San Angelo, Texas, hit a record 111 degrees (43.8 degrees Celsius) on June 4. Between June 2 and June 6 the night temperature never dipped below 80 degrees (26.7 degrees Celsius) at Corpus Christi airport, a record each night, with two days when the thermometer never dropped below 85 (29.4 degrees Celsius) according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n Between June 1 and June 15, more than 1,200 daytime high temperature records<\/a> were tied or broken in the United States and nearly 1,800 nighttime high temperature records were reached, according to the National Center for Environmental Information.<\/p>\n The attribution team used both current and past temperature measurements, contrasting what is happening to what occurred in past heat waves. They then used the scientifically accepted technique of comparing simulations of a fictional world without human-caused climate change to current reality to come up with how much global warming factored into the 2024 heat wave.<\/p>\n The immediate meteorological cause was a high pressure system parked over central Mexico that blocked cooling storms and clouds, then it moved to the U.S. Southwest and is now bringing the heat to the U.S. East, Winkley said. Tropical Storm Alberto formed Wednesday<\/a> and is heading to northern Mexico and southern Texas with some rains, which may cause flooding.<\/p>\n Mexico and other places have been dealing for months with drought, water shortages and brutal heat. Monkeys have been dropping from trees in Mexico from the warmth.<\/p>\n This heat wave \u201cexacerbates existing inequalities\u201d between rich and poor in the Americas, Izquierdo said, and Kenkel agreed. The night heat is where the inequalities really become apparent because the ability to cool down with central air conditioning depends on how financially comfortable they are, Kenkel said.<\/p>\n And that means during this heat wave Salazar P\u00e9rez has been quite uncomfortable.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n F\u00e9lix M\u00e1rquez in Veracruz, Mexico and Teresa de Miguel in Mexico City contributed to this report.<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n Photograph: Margarita Salazar, 82, wipes the sweat off with a tissue inside her home amid high heat in Veracruz, Mexico, on June 16, 2024. Human-caused climate change intensified and made far more likely this month\u2019s killer heat with triple digit temperatures, a new flash study found Thursday, June 20. (AP Photo\/Felix Marquez)<\/em><\/p>\n Topics<\/span> USA<\/a> Climate Change<\/a> Mexico<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n