More than 1k hajj pilgrims die amid temperatures approaching 52C in Mecca
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
And man, we are not far off. If you have a temperature of 103 degrees, it is recommended you go to the doctor. If you have a temperature of 108 degrees, you risk permanent brain damage.
The human body cools itself by sweating--the evaporating water carries off the excess heat. But this process stops working at 95 degrees if the humidity is 50% or higher. 120 degrees and above it just stops working. You either find air conditioning or you literally (not metaphorically or hyperbolically--literally) cook to death.
Currently, the earth is warming at a rate of 1/3 degree per decade. Already it is dangerous to do the Hajj. The time when it will be impossible is IMMINENT. We simply can't let this happen.
1 - people know it's hot already in regions like these, and they are prepared for the most part (even with things like giant parasols, etc)
2 - I'm much more worried about places where the wet bulb temperature will shoot above the acceptable suddenly. This might be more sudden and in less prepared areas.
...and yet the # of deaths is going up. Over 1,000 people! We are not talking about a disaster which might come, maybe, far in the future. The disaster is here, and its about to become a catastrophe!
But the Hajj cases seem more predictable and more manageable (if the will was there of course).
What I'm afraid of is an unpredictable heat wave that comes and hits much harder in a densely populated area
1,000 people died. These days, we are so numb to big numbers (Elon Must buys Twitter for $40 billion, and gets $56 billion stock from Tesla!) that it's easy to just gloss over that....
But if a hurricane hit New York, and 1,000 people died in time's Square, it would be declared a major disaster. 1,000 people dead means tens of thousands of people in sadness and mourning.