sanluisobispo.com ‘This is unmatched’: SLO reaches an all-time heat record — a whopping 120 degrees
The previous record of 115 degrees was set in 2017.
We have already seen the terrible consequences of our dependence on fossil fuels, including longer and more destructive wildfire seasons, deaths from heat waves, loss of farmable land and large refugee migrations due to severe drought, extreme weather events, destruction of ocean ecosystems, and major disruption in world-wide climate systems. Now, it is getting worse - quickly.
2023 was hottest year in 125,000 years based on ice core data. The global 1.5 °C climate change threshold was unexpectedly exceeded generations ahead of schedule. This increases the likelihood that conditions will go beyond “points of no return” from which it might be impossible to recover (such as species extinctions) or take centuries to do so. Below is more detail on the increasing severity of current impacts.
Extreme Weather Events
The frequency and intensity of losses from extreme weather is rising exponentially.
- From 1955-1990, there were five billion-dollar weather disasters globally per year on average. In 2022, there were 42 separate billion-dollar disaster events with an estimated economic cost of $360 billion. The human cost of these disasters is much higher.
- Record-breaking heatwaves have become more frequent and intense
- 11/19-20/2023 were first days with 2°C global warming
- India’s searing heatwave with temperatures reaching 124°F
○Phoenix – temperatures exceeded 109.9°F for an entire month.
- 12,000 lives lost in 2023, underscoring the human cost of climate change. It was a significant increase from 2022.
- 240 climate-related extreme weather events in 2023 highlighting the widespread nature of the crisis.
- Over 4,000 people lost their lives in a Mediterranean cyclone, with thousands more missing. Studies show climate change has made such disasters 50 times more likely.
- A supercharged cyclone struck the Philippines causing widespread destruction and claiming hundreds of lives.
- Preliminary data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated over 1,700 US deaths attributed to heat in 2022. A higher figure is anticipated in 2023.
From NOAA 2023 Annual Global Climate Report