“Not a real weather forecast,” said the Met Office graphics. “Examples of Plausible Weather Based on Climate Predictions”.
Well, on Monday and Tuesday, “believable” becomes reality – 28 years earlier.
Simon Lee, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University in New York, noted the striking similarity between the forecast for 2050 and the forecast for early next week in the UK.
In 30 years, this forecast will seem fairly typical.
To be clear, this is going to be a really record-breaking heatwave. The country’s highest temperature ever measured was 38.7 degrees Celsius at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens in 2019.
According to Christidis, the chance of exceeding 40 degrees is “growing rapidly.”
It’s more than a few uncomfortable days. Extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather events – we just don’t see it at the moment when heatstroke and death are linked to major illnesses like heart disease or respiratory disease.
Unlike floods or wildfires that ravage a city, the sense of urgency about a deadly heat wave isn’t as dramatic, said Christy Eby, a climate and health researcher at the University of Washington, stressing that the heat is a “silent killer.”
“When it’s hot outside, it’s just hot outside – and so it’s a relatively silent killer,” Abi previously told CNN. “People generally don’t know or think about the risks associated with these high temperatures.”
She also said that it is important to understand that the climate is not what it was even a few years ago. The climate crisis is already affecting our lives today, and it will continue to affect the most vulnerable segments of the population.
“We are all looking forward to summer as we enjoy warmer temperatures, but there are people who are at risk in warmer temperatures,” she said. “As the climate continues to change or warmer temperatures become higher than what we experienced when we were younger, people need to pay more attention, especially to those around you.”
Rachel Ramirez of CNN contributed to this analysis.