Is Human-Induced Climate Change Making Heat Waves Worse?

Is human-induced climate change exacerbating heat waves in the United States?

For Context: Earlier this week, The National Weather Service warned that the Midwest and Eastern U.S. could experience a heat wave “notable and potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations.” 

Details: A new report from the World Weather Attribution concluded that recent heat waves endured throughout the United States and Central America were made 35 times worse due to human-induced climate change. Another report from ScienceAlert stated, “Heat related deaths are rising as heat waves like this one occur more regularly thanks to worsening human-induced climate change. Extreme heat events are also increasing in their intensity and duration, bringing along greater fire danger too.”

Key Quotes: Friederike Otto, co-author of the World Weather Attribution study, stated, “Unsurprisingly, heatwaves are getting deadlier … we’ve known about the dangers of climate change at least since the 1970s. But thanks to spineless politicians, who give in to fossil-fuel lobbying again and again, the world continues to burn huge amounts of oil, gas and coal.”

How the Media Covered It: The reports were barely covered in right-rated outlets. Breitbart (Right bias) covered one report, labeling the scientists “alarmists” and countering one report’s claim that “the leading weather-related deaths in the US are caused by heat” by stating, “The group’s assertion that in the U.S. most weather-related deaths ‘are caused by heat’ does not stand up to scrutiny, however, since the majority of weather-related deaths come from cold, not heat.”