Long Heatwaves Could Be Commonplace In US By 2039

[babylonsister]

Long Heatwaves Could Be Commonplace In US By 2039

By Mark Shwartz


Exceptionally long heat waves and other hot events could become commonplace in the United States in the next 30 years, according to a new study by Stanford University climate scientists.

"Using a large suite of climate model experiments, we see a clear emergence of much more intense, hot conditions in the U.S. within the next three decades," said Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford and lead author of the study.

Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Diffenbaugh concluded that hot temperature extremes could become frequent events in the U.S. by 2039, posing serious risks to agriculture and human health.

"In the next 30 years, we could see an increase in heat waves like the one now occurring in the eastern United States or the kind that swept across Europe in 2003 that caused tens of thousands of fatalities," said Diffenbaugh, a center fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment. "Those kinds of severe heat events also put enormous stress on major crops, like corn, soybean, cotton and wine grapes, causing a significant reduction in yields."

more...

http://woods.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/focal.php?name=wayhot&focal_area=climate_and_energy

[mnhtnbb]

1. Oh, noes, no reduction in wine grape yields!

[marybourg]

2. Already common here in AZ. 114 today. nt

[joshcryer]

3. Heh, in 10 years the date will be 10 years sooner.

5 years after that the date will be within 5 years.