Heatwaves are awful right? Those few days when temperatures soar and it’s like you can’t do anything to escape the heat! The air is trying to melt you! But it’s just a few days, right? Well in the future it’s going to be a lot more. Scientists predict that up to 75% of summer days will be extreme heat days and at that point, I would just call that a new normal.

High heat isn’t just uncomfortable, it causes major risks for us. People who don’t have access to a place to cool off or water could succumb to heat related illnesses or even death. With the extreme heat of the future, our nights will be very warm as well and this may destroy our ability survive heat altogether as we won’t have any chance to cool.

We’re already seeing some places facing extreme heat and as the climate crisis goes on, more and more countries will have to grapple with that reality. Some places have installed outdoors fans, rolling brown-outs to conserve the power girds, and cooling locations to help people survive. In the future, a lot more countries may take up the same tactics.