Study: India’s rising temps are already deadly

NEW DELHI (AP) – India is now two and a half times more likely to experience a deadly heat wave than a half century ago, and all it took was an increase in the average temperature of just 0.5 degrees Celsius (less than 1 degree Fahrenheit), according to a study published Wednesday.

The findings are especially sobering considering that the world is on track for far more warming by the end of this century. In just the last two weeks, much of Asia has been gripped by a heatwave that saw Pakistan register a record 53.5 C (128.3 F) in the southern city of Turbat on May 28 – the world’s hottest temperature ever recorded in the month of May. Temperatures in the Indian capital of New Delhi have soared beyond 44 C (111 F).

Even if countries are able to meet the Paris climate agreement goals in curbing climate-warming carbon emissions, that would still only limit the global temperature rise to an estimated 2 degrees C (3.6 F). U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent pledge to exit the Paris agreement won’t help.

“It’s getting hotter, and of course more heat waves are going to kill more people,” said climatologist Omid Mazdiyasni of the University of California, Irvine, who led an international team of scientists in analyzing a half century of data from the Indian Meteorological Department on temperature, heat waves and heat-related mortality.