What’s particularly concerning is the rise of dangerous humid-heat temperatures, as explored by David Fickling and Ruth Pollard in this feature. It was thought that the fatal 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) wet-bulb threshold — the point at which the human body can’t cool itself down and even healthy people with unlimited shade and water will die of heatstroke — almost never occurred in the current climate. But as a 2020 study (and the map below) reveals, humid heat above 35 degrees C has already been happening — from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea to Pakistan, India, Australia, Venezuela and both Mexican coasts. Wet-bulb temperatures above 31 degrees C have turned up in dozens of places across tropical South and Southeast Asia, China, West Africa, southern Europe, and the Americas, extending to the suburbs of New York and Naples, Italy.
Writing this from an air-conditioned office, it’s easy to forget that there’s no escape from the heat for some. Outdoor workers, for example, are particularly at risk of heat-related illnesses.
