Heat index values topped 110 degrees in parts of the state last week as a dangerous heat wave gripped much of the eastern U.S.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, said greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere are causing historically unprecedented levels of extreme heat on multiple continents.
“I wish, as a climate scientist, I wish it were a fluke or I wish that it wasn't part of a sustained long-term trend in that direction, but alas, it is,” Swain said.
Swain said climate data show extreme heat waves are now more frequent, more prolonged and more impactful.
During the past 20 years, Kentucky has experienced 38 more billion-dollar disasters from severe storms tied to climate change compared with the previous 20 years, according to data compiled by Climate Central, an independent group of scientists studying the altered climate and how it affects people’s lives.
The group’s report shows the average summer temperature in Kentucky has warmed by 2 degrees since 1970, which means more heat-related illness and worse air quality.
Swain said that while urban residents may be more accustomed to and prepared for hot summers, not everyone in rural Appalachia, for example, can afford air conditioning.
“You still have a certain range of expected temperatures in any given place, and it's warming in all of them,” Swain said. “Sometimes you actually have greater impacts from increasing extreme heat in places that are less accustomed to them.”
Temperatures in Bowling Green over the past week have been nearly 8 degrees warmer than normal. The National Weather Service issued extreme heat warnings across the region, but the “heat dome” — which traps warm air in the lower atmosphere like a lid on a pot — is expected to lift in the coming days, bringing temperatures down to the mid- to upper 80s.
