Climate Change Makes Dangerous Heat Last Long: U.S. Institute

New York, Sept. 17 (Jiji Press)–U.S. research institute Climate Central said Wednesday that climate change led health-threatening dangerous heat to last long across the world in June-August. Its research covered 240 countries, territories and dependencies, and 940 cities across the world. In Japan, for example, the number of days with dangerously high temperatures came to 62, nearly 70 pct of all days in the three-month period. According to the institute, days with temperatures higher than 90 pct of the temperatures recorded in respective areas in 1991-2020 are counted as risky heat days. It suggested that people cannot adapt to temperatures exceeding the threshold, with the risk of heatstroke and other health damage increasing. Of the 62 risky heat days in Japan, which was the seventh most among the surveyed areas, 22 were caused by climate change, the institute said. Jamaica, a Caribbean island country, topped the overall list, with 74 days with health-threatening heat, including 59 days attributable to climate change. Of the 12 surveyed major Japanese cities, Sapporo in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido had the largest number of dangerous heat days, at 70, followed by 69 days in Sendai in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi, and 66 days in Tokyo and three nearby cities–Saitama in the namesake prefecture, and Yokohama and Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture. The average summer temperature this year was 3.4 degrees Celsius higher than the average in the past 30 years in Sapporo, 3.1 degrees higher in Sendai, and 2.9 degrees higher in Tokyo and the city of Saitama. Among the world’s major cities, New York had 43 days with dangerous heat in June-August this year, London 59 days, Beijing 49 days and Shanghai 65 days. A Climate Central official said that climate change is no longer a future threat, noting that many areas are seeing new temperature records every season. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]