Have extreme heat events been increasing in frequency and severity across most of the US?
Monday, September 7, 2020
By William Boger
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YES
The average temperature within the U.S. has risen by 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 50 years, with some parts of the country increasing more than others. Data has shown that the frequency of daily record-breaking high temperatures will increase as the average temperature increases, as will the quantity of heat waves and their duration.
In the 1960s major US cities experienced an average of two heat waves per year, within a 20-day season. By the 2010s that average had increased to six heat waves within a 67-day season per year.
The heat waves in recent years are less severe than those the U.S. experienced in the "dust bowl" years of the 1930s.
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