3 ms·

>At 3.5C many places on the planet become uninhabitable Which places in particular? Here in the middle east temperatures regularly get up to 45-50 degrees cels

>At 3.5C many places on the planet become uninhabitable Which places in particular? Here in the middle east temperatures regularly get up to 45-50 degrees celsius in the summer and people get by okay. Most places have average temperatures much lower than that, so how would a rise of just 3-4 degress make then uninhabitable?

heavyset_go 3y ago
Humidity is a big factor in whether heat is bearable or not, and 3.5C is an average over the entire globe. Some places will get much hotter than just 3.5C, some places won't.
bobthepanda 3y ago
There is also humidity. The desert is dry, so you can still perspire and cool down that way; but in a humid place like, say, India it is possible that temperatures will rise high enough that the human body cannot perspire to cool down via evaporation, at which point it would be dangerous to be outside.
- DoingIsLearning 3y ago
  Indeed "Wet-bulb temperature" is likely to be the thing that will make several densely populated places in Asia uninhabitable. Bangladesh alone is +170M people. Dispacing these people will be a refugee crisis on an unseen scale.
tsimionescu 3y ago
+3.5C mean global temperatures means swings of, say, +- 10C in various places at various times.
adrianN 3y ago
A 3.5 degree global average increase is much more pronounced on land.
rich_sasha 3y ago
It used to confuse me too..now I think I get it. The issue isn't all thermometers going up by 3.5 degC. The issue is that it also brings a host of other changes, and it's those things that kill you. They include: - higher variability of temperatures. So your +3.5 degC actually makes heatwaves of +10/+15 more likely - changing rainfall patterns, taking rain away from some places that rely on it. - rising sea level, where the small average temperature changes are sufficient for a significant increase. I actually think the focus on global average temperature increase is a major failure of public science communication, precisely because everyone mentally adds the increase to their local climate and thinks "meh".
D_Alex 3y ago
>temperatures regularly get up to 45-50 degrees celsius in the summer and people get by okay Largely because the 45-50 degree temperature do not last very long. And partly because AC loss due to prolonged blackouts has not happened during such heat - yet. A 3-4 degree increase in average temperature means that 45-50 degree temperature periods may go from lasting 1-3 days to 2-3 weeks. And that's a whole new ball game.
Alpha3031 3y ago
A quick summary of the takeaways of Vecellio et al.'s recent (October 2023) paper (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2305427120 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2305427120) indicate that at +3.5 °C GMST we should expect high exposure to uncompensable heat stress every year primary around the Indus River Valley (India and surrounding countries) and the highly populated cities in eastern China. In North America, there is some exposure starting at +3°C but until +4 °C those exposures do not become substantial in the typical year. Another thing noted is that urban features such as green spaces, water features, and increased shade may work where exceedance is typically nonhumid (i.e., North America, Middle East, Australia), these factors may not be as effective or even actively detrimental in more humid environments due to the added humidity.

heavyset_go 3y ago

Humidity is a big factor in whether heat is bearable or not, and 3.5C is an average over the entire globe. Some places will get much hotter than just 3.5C, some places won't.

bobthepanda 3y ago

There is also humidity. The desert is dry, so you can still perspire and cool down that way; but in a humid place like, say, India it is possible that temperatures will rise high enough that the human body cannot perspire to cool down via evaporation, at which point it would be dangerous to be outside.

DoingIsLearning 3y ago
Indeed "Wet-bulb temperature" is likely to be the thing that will make several densely populated places in Asia uninhabitable. Bangladesh alone is +170M people. Dispacing these people will be a refugee crisis on an unseen scale.

tsimionescu 3y ago

+3.5C mean global temperatures means swings of, say, +- 10C in various places at various times.

adrianN 3y ago

A 3.5 degree global average increase is much more pronounced on land.

rich_sasha 3y ago

It used to confuse me too..now I think I get it. The issue isn't all thermometers going up by 3.5 degC. The issue is that it also brings a host of other changes, and it's those things that kill you. They include: - higher variability of temperatures. So your +3.5 degC actually makes heatwaves of +10/+15 more likely - changing rainfall patterns, taking rain away from some places that rely on it. - rising sea level, where the small average temperature changes are sufficient for a significant increase. I actually think the focus on global average temperature increase is a major failure of public science communication, precisely because everyone mentally adds the increase to their local climate and thinks "meh".

D_Alex 3y ago

>temperatures regularly get up to 45-50 degrees celsius in the summer and people get by okay Largely because the 45-50 degree temperature do not last very long. And partly because AC loss due to prolonged blackouts has not happened during such heat - yet. A 3-4 degree increase in average temperature means that 45-50 degree temperature periods may go from lasting 1-3 days to 2-3 weeks. And that's a whole new ball game.

Alpha3031 3y ago

A quick summary of the takeaways of Vecellio et al.'s recent (October 2023) paper (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2305427120 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2305427120) indicate that at +3.5 °C GMST we should expect high exposure to uncompensable heat stress every year primary around the Indus River Valley (India and surrounding countries) and the highly populated cities in eastern China. In North America, there is some exposure starting at +3°C but until +4 °C those exposures do not become substantial in the typical year. Another thing noted is that urban features such as green spaces, water features, and increased shade may work where exceedance is typically nonhumid (i.e., North America, Middle East, Australia), these factors may not be as effective or even actively detrimental in more humid environments due to the added humidity.