NEW YORK — Rapid population growth and global warming are increasing exposure to extreme heat in cities, aggravating health problems and making moving to urban areas less beneficial for the world’s poor, according to a study released Monday. Using the so-called “wet-bulb globe temperature” scale, a measure that takes into account heat and humidity, they defined extreme heat as 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The researchers then compared weather data with statistics on the cities’ population over the same 33-year period. They calculated the number of days of extreme heat in a particular year by the population of the city that year to come up with a definition called person-days. ADVERTISEMENTBangladesh’s capital Dhaka was the worst-affected city, seeing an increase of 575 million person-days of extreme heat over the study period.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 05, 2021 06:10 UTC