Heat kills.
It kills the old faster than the young.
It kills those who are poorer faster than those who are wealthy.
It kills those who are least able to protect themselves.
It leads to greater risk of wildfires, causes damage to riparian ecosystems, reduces the yields from most food crops, confuses and kills insects and other wildlife and disrupts the 'usual' order. These result in crop losses and increased prices.
Throughout the Summer we have seen temperature records being broken around the world. This Twitter feed collates stories of extreme weather and has been particularly busy.
Harsh heat will build in Southern Asia (again) in the coming days.
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) May 8, 2022
Pakistan will break 50°C (122°F) in places. This follows a very hot March and hottest April on record.
The heat really is relentless. Very hot also for large parts of India. pic.twitter.com/LJxFCFEqGL
Some coverage from local press: there's precious little here in the UK.Very hot conditions are expected to return western India and eastern Pakistan this week
— Met Office (@metoffice) May 8, 2022
Daytime temperatures may exceed 48°C with very high overnight temperatures as well
The heat will likely cause disruption to power supplies, damage to crops and elevated wildfire risk pic.twitter.com/AZLyFSdzRc
Media reaction: South Asia’s 2022 heatwave and the role of climate change | @aruna_sekhar @daisydunnesci @AyeshaTandon @GAViglione w/comment from @MnshaP @disharavii
— Carbon Brief (@CarbonBrief) May 8, 2022
Read: https://t.co/2NGiLmyhFT pic.twitter.com/UbYH7d8Rii
And here's a passage on heatwaves from The Scarlet Shawl by Richard Jefferies, published in 1874.
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