ISLAMABAD July 18 (Online): The heatwave engulfing the northern hemisphere is set to intensify this week, causing overnight temperatures to surge and leading to an increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The WMO warned that the heatwave was in its early phases, saying it expected temperatures in North America, Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean to be above 40 degrees \u201cfor a prolonged number of days this week as the heatwave intensifies\u201d.
\nThis could mean midnight temperatures hovering in the high 30s in some areas this week, it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepeated high nighttime temperatures are particularly dangerous for human health, because the body is unable to recover from sustained heat. This leads to increased cases of heart attacks and death,\u201d John Nairn, senior extreme heat adviser for WMO told reporters in Geneva.<\/p>\n
Panu Saaristo from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that infants, the elderly and people with chronic health conditions are at particular risk.<\/p>\n
More than 60,000 European may have died in last year\u2019s heatwaves, according to experts, despite having some of the world\u2019s best early warning systems.<\/p>\n
The IFRC is phoning elderly people in Italy to check up on them, handing out drinking water in Greece and creating shelters for people affected by the wildfire on the Spanish island of La Palma, Saaristo said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations weather agency said new records were possible in the coming days. The previous European high was 48.8 degrees Celsius reached in Sicily in August 2021 and the global record is 56.7 degrees Celsius from Death Valley, California in July 1913, according to the WMO.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mediterranean heatwave is big but nothing like what\u2019s been through North Africa,\u201d said the WMO\u2019s Nairn. \u201cIt\u2019s developing into Europe at this stage. We\u2019re in the early phases of this heatwave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about whether the current heatwave was due to climate change, Nairn described the slow-moving \u201cparked\u201d weather systems as unusual. \u201cThese are not your normal weather systems of the past. You have to do climate repair to change it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD July 18 (Online): The heatwave engulfing the northern hemisphere is set to intensify this week, causing overnight temperatures to surge and leading to an increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday. The WMO warned that the […]<\/p>\n
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