The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns climate change means we should continue to expect hotter summers and more intense storms that could knock power out for days — and kill people.
According to an article by NBC news, data on heat-related deaths suggest that public health officials have been underestimating them, as summers get longer and hotter due to climate change, and as storms that can cause widespread blackouts become more common and more intense. The latest numbers, part of the CDC’s weekly report in death and illness, list non-residents for the first time, a group that includes illegal immigrants, tourists, migrant workers and others. These groups suffer especially when it gets hot.
Forty percent of heat related deaths over the last 10 years were in just three states – California, Arizona and Texas, all border states in the south.
Weather experts stress that it’s impossible to say whether any individual storm or heat wave was caused by climate change. But is clear that climate change is contributing to changing patterns and that the sheer magnitude of these extreme weather events present a challenge to public health.
Climate predictions and observations are suggesting that the magnitude of extreme weather events is increasing.
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