Searing heat remains the story of summer across swathes of the northern hemisphere, with the most vulnerable—people who are young, elderly, disabled, poor, displaced, and war-torn—suffering disproportionately.
Summer in the northern half of the globe had only just begun when the Middle East, Europe, and North America began counting their suffering, and their dead, in the wake of record-breaking waves of heat.
At least 1,300 people died while on the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in June, and at least six tourists would die in Greece around the same time after exposure to extreme heat.
“Blistering” temperatures were the norm for much of June across the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and West Asia, a pattern that continued well into July.
Misery and fear were compounded in Türkiye as it battled wildfires in temperatures above 40°C, as much as 12°C higher than normal. Now the country is looking ahead to a heatwave that is expected to hit in early August.
Meanwhile, in North America, June saw extreme heat across stretches of eastern Canada and much of the United States. In Canada, peak temperatures in Quebec and Ontario were between 7 and nearly 11℃ above normal during the three-day period around June 19, writes Western University in a just-released report.
The United States also sweltered with “nearly 100 million Americans under extreme heat advisories, watches, and warnings” on June 18, Reuters wrote at the time.
Temperatures were similarly lethal in Mexico (51.9℃ in the Sonoran Desert at one point), with at least 125 deaths recorded by the end of June in that country, courtesy of serial heat waves that had been ongoing since May.
In India, at least 110 people died and some 40,000 suffered heat stroke between March 1 and June 18. Pakistan saw dozens die in late June in the midst of a weeks-long heat wave which saw temperatures run as high as 47°C, wrote the LA Times.
As July rounds to a close, extreme heat continues the norm across parts of the northern hemisphere, with western Canada and the United States buckling under temperatures that, together with drought and lightning, have sparked hundreds of ferocious wildfires. Ukraine faces power grid-buckling heatwaves, alongside Russian missiles, as threats to its power supply, reports the New York Times.
The Big Killers: Humidity and Nighttime Heat
Across much of the Middle East, excessive humidity is inhibiting nighttime cooling, posing special dangers to human health.
“Some locations have seen the heat index, or how it feels when factoring in the humidity, reach 140 to 150℉ (60 to 65°C), fueled by an intense heat dome, the warmest water temperatures in the world and the influence of human-caused climate change,” reports the Washington Post.
Such high humidity means nighttime temperatures that are “exceptionally warm, in many cases staying above 29℃,” the Post adds.
The “wet-bulb globe temperature”—one measure of heat stress on the human body—recently hit 36℃ at the Persian Gulf International Airport and 35℃ in Dubai, “exceeding the threshold of 32℃ that researchers have said poses a risk to human survival if such heat is prolonged,” writes the Post, citing a September 2023 analysis it co-published with Carbon Plan.
A recent report from Climate Central connects excessive nighttime temperatures to suffering and death from heat.
Disabled, Displaced at Particular Risk
Dozens of people died from heat-related causes in Texas in early July, during an extended power outage that followed in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. An exact count awaits the completion of coroners’ reports, but the number of deaths is “at least 23,” writes the Associated Press.
One of those who died was 64-year-old Houston resident Pamela Jarrett, who was wheelchair-bound and used a feeding tube. Jarret lived with her sister, who tried her best to keep her sibling safe and cool when the power went out, but her efforts were no match for the heat. Jarret died, gasping for breath, four days later, the power still out. The medical examiner subsequently confirmed that she died of heat stroke.
Commenting on a recent report by Friends of the Earth UK, which found at least six million people—mostly children and older adults—at risk from extreme heat in England, disability rights activist Doug Paulley told the Guardian that the projection would be far higher had disabled persons been included in the analysis.
People displaced by conflict and by climate are also deeply endangered by extreme heat, with women particularly vulnerable. In a recent report, the Washington Post provides first-hand accounts from women struggling to raise their children in refugee camps under the added pressure and risk of climate impacts.
For Hamda al-Marzouq, 33, who has lived in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan since fleeing Syria in 2013, the worst of climate impacts is increasingly humid heat. The dust storms that come along with the heat have triggered asthma in her 10-year-old son.
‘Power and Money’ Put Outdoor Workers in Peril
The story of David Azebedo, who died of heat stroke on a Michelin tire factory construction site in Clermont-Ferrand, France, on July 13, 2022 at age 50, offers tragic insight into the peril that extreme heat poses to those who work out-of-doors.
Told recently by the Guardian, Azebedo’s story shows a man down on his luck for years, seeking to turn his life around with a new job as a temporary worker on a construction site. He would die of heat stroke (his internal body temperature hit 42°C at one point) on his third day on the job, during a national heatwave that is believed to have killed at least 7,000 people.
It does n’t have to be this way, Cora Roelofs, a professor with expertise in worker safety and the environment at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, told the Guardian.
“Fundamentally, illness related to heat is incredibly preventable. All you have to do is not overexpose someone and allow them to recover,” Roelofs said.
But that kind of basic protection is not in the cards for temporary workers like Azebedo. “They have to work or they lose their livelihood. This speaks to a wider dynamic: power and money determine your vulnerability to climate change.”
Recorded comments by Eiffage’s site manager offer a “sad echo” of this reality, notes the Guardian. “[David] was running everywhere. He wanted to prove that he was valuable to be kept.”
