El Niño Nears Peak as 40C Heat and 220,000 Evacuations Batter Multiple Regions
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Aug 21
El Niño Nears Peak as 40C Heat and 220,000 Evacuations Batter Multiple Regions
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Aug 21
Summary
More than 20 people have died in South Korea this month as extreme heat, drought and wildfires hit Asia, Europe and the United States at the same time.
November-December is when El Niño is expected to reach maximum strength, adding to human-driven warming in a year already forecast to break global heat records.
40C temperatures in Japan have become common enough for meteorologists to use the term "cruel heat day," while dry conditions are already damaging harvests and threatening higher food prices.
U.S. wildfires are on pace to burn more acreage than any year since daily records began in 1994, and France already evacuated 220,000 people in July in its largest peacetime evacuation.
European officials and climate scientists say this summer has exposed how repeated heat waves are overwhelming emergency response and could push governments toward stronger climate action.