heat wave

The Northwest Extreme Heat Wave Is a Call to Policy Action

Extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest over the past few weeks shattered records – 108º in Seattle, 116º in Portland, 121º in Lytton, BC, the day before a wildfire devastated the town – and has been linked to hundreds of deaths, a number that will surely increase as local officials gather more information. It has …

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Addressing Extreme Heat Risk with Insurance

New report assesses potential for innovative insurance solutions to support response and mitigation

This past summer, California suffered through a record heat wave with triple-digit temperatures throughout the state that helped spark the record-setting wildfires that left millions of acres burned, thousands of people displaced, dozens dead or missing, and millions breathing toxic air. But extreme heat is a climate killer in its own right, responsible for thousands …

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Hot Enough Yet?

Apparently not.

Two weeks ago, my family vacation took us past the self-proclaimed “world’s largest thermometer,” in Baker, California, which read 111 degrees when we visited it–the hottest air temperature my kids had ever felt.  Back at UCLA we’re feeling the heat today, too, with much of the LA basin scorching in record temperatures.  L.A.’s heat wave …

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Are Heat Waves Related to Climate Change?

Andrew Leonard had a great post on Salon this week arguing — essentially — that liberal bloggers are wimps when it comes to connecting extreme climate events like heat waves to climate change.  By contrast, he notes, conservatives eagerly throw barbs at Al Gore any time it snows in D.C.:  climate denier James Inhofe’s grandchildren …

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