Not Just Wildfire: The Growing Ripple Effects Of More Extreme Heat And Drought
Consider This from NPR
NPR
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🗓️ 24 June 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Wildfire is an obvious threat — but there are other consequences of extreme heat and drought, as smaller snowmelts and lower reservoirs lead to water cutbacks and more expensive electricity. And climate change is making it all worse.
Colorado Public Radio's Michael Elizabeth Sakas reports on another consequence: what happens when there isn't enough water to build new homes.
Kristina Dahl, senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, explains how extreme heat can affect the human body,
Additional reporting in this episode:
• Jordan Kern spoke to NPR's Scott Detrow about hydropower in the West.
• Michael Elizabeth Sakas reported on western snowmelt.
• NPR's Kirk Siegler reported on record high temperatures.
• NPR's Lauren Sommer reported on dwindling water supplies.
• NPR's Nathan Rott, Luke Runyon of KUNC in Colorado and Annie Ropeik of New Hampshire Public Radio discussed the growing consequences of heat and drought.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For the second weekend in a row, parts of the American West will be broiling. |
| 0:04.8 | Get ready for some serious heat. In fact, dangerous heat on the way this upcoming weekend. |
| 0:09.2 | This time it's in the Pacific Northwest, with parts of Oregon and Washington state |
| 0:13.6 | bracing for triple digits. 98 Saturday, 101 on Sunday. This is some serious stuff that we have |
| 0:20.9 | never seen before potentially. In Seattle, barely a third of homes have air conditioning. |
| 0:26.4 | Average highs this time of year are usually in the mid 70s. I think people in Phoenix would think |
| 0:31.5 | this is hot. They do, but they all have air conditioning so they would notice, you know. |
| 0:34.6 | It would be kind of a cool well. How hot is it in Phoenix? It's like opening an oven when you're |
| 0:39.2 | baking a pie. Phoenix Paramedic captain Scott Douglas spoke to NPR last week as the city hit 115 |
| 0:47.2 | degrees for a record six straight days. There were also new temperature records in Omaha, Denver, |
| 0:55.2 | Las Vegas and Sacramento all before summer had even officially started. And people say it's a dry |
| 1:01.2 | heat. I'm like, well, you know what? When it gets to 117, 118 degrees, it doesn't matter if it's dry, |
| 1:06.4 | moist, cool, whatever. It's hot. All this is happening while parts of the Western U.S. are in the |
| 1:10.9 | middle of a historic mega drought. 22 years, a below average rain and punishing temperatures that |
| 1:17.7 | may not end anytime soon. One of the challenges is that this year is coming after a couple of dry |
| 1:24.4 | years. So there's a cumulative impact. Phil Chang is a county commissioner in Oregon's DeShoots |
| 1:30.8 | County, home to one of the state's largest reservoirs. He told NPR, it's barely a quarter of the |
| 1:36.1 | way full. With climate change, I do expect that we need to be prepared for more droughts like this |
| 1:43.1 | and maybe more severe droughts moving forward. Consider this. Climate change is making |
| 1:49.6 | heat and drought more extreme and the consequences are growing more extreme too. Coming up, how to |
| 1:56.0 | survive a heat wave. The following message comes from NPR sponsor WeWork. Escape the distractions |
| 2:25.3 | of working from home with WeWork all access. One monthly membership gives you access to hundreds |
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