NASA. (2023, August 22). NASA maps key heat wave differences in Southern California – climate change: Vital signs of the planet. NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3280/nasa-maps-key-heat-wave-differences-in-southern-california/ 

The article talks about the rising temperatures and how people get acclimated to where they live. It is predicted that California will get more heat waves in the future due to climate change. To see the effects they tested how strong heat in southern california would affect it. They found they can not just look at air temperature to find the impacts and see how anomalus conditions make a difference. According to the national weather service heat waves are the number 1 killer of weather. Heat waves are also becoming more humid from swelling moisture from the sea surface. They did a study to compare a heat wave in august vs september and found even though the september heat wave was cooler, it was more humid which lead to way more heat stress. This shows how you must account for other factors than just the temperatures. Another factor is that different places feel the heat differently. For example inland vs coastal makes a difference on the impacts of the heat wave. This should all also affect energy plans that are created and all of the different variables should be taken into consideration.

 

This article made me think about how worrying it is that the topic of discussion is the future preparedness of heat waves that are to come. The fact that they are studying heat wave patterns to see how they affect different areas and how they change in California is concerning. It is also important to have this information because I could better prepare myself and understand heat waves that are to come. I think that humidity is a big factor in these heat waves as well as location and all the separate variables are important to play into consideration. I wonder what are some good solutions to the situation. Obviously the heat waves are due to climate change but I would love to know if there is anything I can do to have a good impact on the climate. I also wonder how the heat waves impact different people and if the slowly changing climate has a huge effect on people or do they have time to adapt to it because it is a slow process, and the heat is just slowly rising.