By 2050, Prague's Climate Will Be as Warm as Naples's, Says New Study

In 2050, Prague’s climate will feel more like Naples’s, according to a new climate change study.

Hundreds of other major cities worldwide could be facing droughts, flooding, storms, and other climate catastrophes, said the study, which was conducted by the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich university.

Some of these climate effects aren’t even known or predictable yet — a fifth of cities, including Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Singapore, are facing conditions so extreme they don’t currently exist anywhere in the world, according to the study.

The study predicted the future climate conditions of 520 major cities worldwide, and paired those predictions with the conditions of cities today. By 2050, Madrid will feel more like Marrakesh, Seattle will feel like San Francisco, and New York will feel like Virginia Beach, according to the report.

An estimated 77% of cities around the world will see their climate conditions drastically change, indicating “the global scale of this climate change threat and associated risks for human health,” the study warned.

The danger is different in tropical regions — temperatures there won’t rise by much, but the level of precipitation is expected to change significantly. Wet seasons will get wetter and dry seasons will get drier — increasing the danger of droughts and floods.

This new study is the latest in a series of climate warnings from scientists and policymakers worldwide.

Just last month, a new UN report warned that more than 120 million people could slip into poverty within the next decade because of climate change, creating a “‘climate apartheid’ scenario where the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger and conflict while the rest of the world is left to suffer.”

Other cities are also facing extreme climate this summer. Germany recorded its highest-ever June temperature last month during a major Europe-wide heat wave — 38.6 degrees Celsius. A new June temperature record was also set in neighboring Poland, where meteorologists measured 38.2 Celsius.

Author: red