Health warnings issued globally as temperatures reach record highs

First at Five: Scorched Earth The warnings from scientists are literally too hot to ignore.

Changing climate has an affect on everything from food production, to animal behaviour, and as we’ve seen here in Nova Scotia, even wildfires.

While people in Halifax have seen their fair share of hot weather over the past weeks, this summer is bringing record-breaking heat to countries around the world.

“The records are actually, in some cases they’re just getting past but a lot of cases they’re actually smashing the records,” says Gary Lines, a consultant with Climate Action Services.

Health warnings have been issued as temperatures approach 40 degrees in Poland, Greece and Italy.

“Drinking lots which is nice because Rome is good fountains everywhere so you can stay hydrated a little bit easier which is nice,” says Canadian tourist Tracy Dunseith.

A relentless heat wave across the southern United States has 90 million Americans facing heat alerts.

“You go outside and then you go inside and take a break,” says Julia Buntain.

She and her husband, visiting from Tennessee, have friends in Phoenix, A.Z., — a city that has set a record for having 19-consecutive days with a temperature of at least 43 degrees Celsius.

“They don’t go out between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Their shoes will melt to the concrete and so will your tires.”

Perhaps most shocking is the 66.7 degrees recorded at the Persian International Airport in Iran.

“These are not your normal weather systems of the past,” says John Nairn, a senior extreme heat advisor with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The extreme heat is being closely monitored by the WMO.

“It will continue, and it will continue for some time. You have to reverse it. You have to do climate repair to change it. So, it is global warming and is going to continue for some time,” Nairn says.

He says the sweltering heat is contributing to changes in animal behaviour, an increase in ocean temperatures and a rise in sea levels.

“Certainly sea levels have been rising since the last Ice Age but the concern of course is that with global warming that the amount of sea level rise is accelerating and will continue to accelerate over the next 20, 30, 50 years,” says Lines.

Lines says global warming can be slowed, but it would take immediate and drastic actions to do so as the earth approaches warming value of 1.5 degrees above the historical average.

“Once we get past 1.5 it’s going to be extremely difficult to start to slow some of these things down.”

As weather and weather events become more extreme, the big question for Gary Lines is are we ready for things like drought and sea level rise? He says a lot will be decided in the next decade.

“A lot of communities have started to look at that seriously but that also ties into things like emergency management,” said Lines. “Are we ready, are we really ready for summers that are like this or even hotter? Are we ready for sea level rise and storm surge in coastal communities?”

Lines says we’re only just starting to answer those questions now.

For the latest Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.