Climate change in the near future will cause temperatures and humidity thresholds to be exceeded in many areas of the world and make them unlivable. Those who will suffer the consequences of climate change will not only be those considered ‘fragile’ but also those who enjoy good health.
This study was published in the scientific journal Pnas. In particular, according to the research, the city of Lahore in Pakistan, already the victim of some extreme weather events in 2022, will experience unlivable conditions for prolonged periods of two to three weeks a year by mid-century, in which the survival of the inhabitants will be at stake. This is at best. At worst, if climate change measures prove insufficient, the scenarios could be even more catastrophic and the days of unliveability will be months
In Yemen, on the other hand, in the city of al-Hudaydah, extreme conditions could last between one and two months at best, and almost the entire year if the most negative scenarios come true.
The conditions beyond which one goes beyond the limits of human tolerability do not only consider the temperature rise, but also the relative humidity in the shade and the wet bulb, i.e. the temperature recorded by a wet thermometer.
Experts had determined that the highest wet bulb index a human being can withstand is 35 degrees Celsius for six hours. Later, however, it was decided that even for healthy subjects the maximum is reached at 31 degrees.
Today, in the hottest and most humid regions of the earth, the ceiling is 25/27 degrees, although this threshold has been exceeded several times since 2005 in the regions of Pakistan and the Persian Gulf in particular.
Daniel Vecellio, lead author of the study explained that when periods of extreme temperatures and humidity accumulate, the situation becomes unsustainable for humans by preventing sufficient cooling and causing body temperatures to rise.
In Europe and North America, where people are not accustomed to such conditions, the survival threshold could be exceeded a couple of times a decade and this could result in tens of thousands of deaths.
Show Comments