This Heatwave Is a Disaster. Treat it as Such: Mark Gongloff

Unlike other natural disasters, extreme heat doesn’t topple buildings, flood streets or turn road signs into missiles. It doesn’t provide a dramatic backdrop for daredevil weather reporters. What it mostly does is kill people, quietly and efficiently. It’s long past time we respect its destructive power, which will only grow as a warming planet makes heat waves more frequent and intense.

This discussion is particularly relevant this week, as a “heat blob” that has punished Mexico and the Southwestern US for months creeps into the Midwest, Northeast and Canada, subjecting possibly <-bsp-bb-link state="{"bbHref":"bbg://news/stories/SF88V5DWRGG0","_id":"00000190-2bd4-d5f2-a594-fff491ef0000","_type":"0000016b-944a-dc2b-ab6b-d57ba1cc0000"}">150 million people to unseasonably high temperatures for a miserable stretch ...