How life changes as global heat records intensify

The last three years were the warmest globally since records began in 1850. 

Ocean temperatures in many parts of the globe also hit record highs, contributing to more extreme weather events. Coastlines were battered by an above-average number of tropical storms, causing billions of dollars in damage in the U.S. alone.

Meanwhile, record warmth and an intense snow drought in the Colorado River Basin are producing less water for the reservoirs that sustain the American Southwest, which are already overallocated and barreling toward historic lows.

These are not records to celebrate.

Heat is growing more intense, occurring more frequently and persisting for longer periods, making it harder for people to find a reprieve. Exposure to extreme heat already kills more people in most years than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined.

It’s not just heat stroke and dehydration that we have to worry about. Warmer temperatures can facilitate the spread of diseases such as cholera, malaria and West Nile virus, making outbreaks more common.

Prolonged heat exposure — even to less intense heat — also stresses the heart as it works harder to cool the body. Older people and those with chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, are particularly susceptible to these stresses.

While air conditioning is an effective way to combat heat exposure, utilities are increasingly under strain to keep this essential cooling infrastructure humming while powering data centers, electric vehicles and a growing collection of internet-connected devices.

At the same time, persistent drought and less runoff from melting snow is providing less renewable water from streams and rivers, depleting the finite groundwater supplies on which many rely for drinking and growing our food.

Farmers are working to improve efficiency, but longer growing seasons and higher water demands from plants in hotter climates mean more water is needed to produce the same yields, offsetting those gains. Additional water and power sources aren’t cheap, and affordability is a chief concern — particularly because those most at risk in hotter climates are often least able to shoulder the rising costs.

Metro Phoenix’s extreme desert heat makes it a good laboratory for solutions, and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University is on the forefront of this research.

The Global Futures Laboratory is home to ANDI, the world’s first breathing, sweating robot that can be used to collect measurements outside of a controlled lab setting.

The laboratory also uses MaRTy, a mobile meteorological instrument, to monitor the impact of Phoenix’s cool pavement coatings, which lower road surface temperatures and make small but meaningful impacts on air temperature.

Furthermore, the laboratory’s HeatReady initiative reduces the impacts of increasing heat on neighborhoods and schools. As part of that program, researchers are now forming a guide to help schools conduct outdoor recess safely when it’s hot.

And that’s just scratching the surface. Here are five additional efforts to watch this summer:

Summer has always been brutal in Phoenix. But the last few years have felt even more intense as temperatures have climbed.

Researchers from Energy Forward, the laboratory’s energy transformation engine, are working with Arizona’s largest electric utilities to determine whether recent heat waves align with projections that Phoenix will get hotter over time — or exceed those expectations.

Utilities plan to use this information to refine their forecasts for future power needs.

We know that heat impacts people differently based on their age and underlying medical conditions. But much of what we know is based on hospital or death records — the most extreme cases.

Far less is known about how heat impacts people as they go about their normal routines.

That could change this spring, when the results of the Global Futures Laboratory’s HeatSuite study are released. As part of the study, scientists measured biometric data and weather conditions around participants in real time and in real life to better understand how daily heat exposure can impact health.

The findings could lead to better practices to protect the most vulnerable.

Preliminary research suggests that heat released by data center cooling equipment can increase temperatures in surrounding neighborhoods by a couple of degrees Fahrenheit. That extra heat could force air conditioners to work harder, potentially increasing residents’ power bills.

Scientists will gather more data this summer to build on these findings. What they learn could inform design changes at data centers that direct heat upward, rather than dispersing it into surrounding neighborhoods.

Trees store carbon and provide an evaporative cooling effect, offering benefits that other forms of shade cannot.

But it’s not enough to plant any tree in any open space. Maximizing this investment means strategically locating them to provide a functional shade canopy for sidewalks and other public spaces.

Urban Nature, a partnership housed within the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service, is helping cities, nonprofits and residents identify priority areas to plant desert-native trees in neighborhoods that have little shade.

It offers site assessments to cities and field-based training for landscape professionals to ensure that trees are properly installed, irrigated and maintained — so they can provide the maximum cooling benefit.

Heat and drought aren’t the only consequences of a warming planet. More intense storms and flooding also are wreaking havoc around the globe.

Upmanu Lall, director of the Global Futures Laboratory’s Water Institute, is challenging the adage that no one can control the weather.

His initial research suggests that with a small push in the right place, scientists could move storms to avoid flooding and send precipitation where it’s most needed.

As that longer-term solution takes shape, Lall aims to bring a floating solar demonstration project to Tempe Town Lake. Plans include a hydroponic greenhouse that is expected to use a fraction of the water typically used by traditional farming practices.

Taken together, these efforts underscore both the scale of the challenge and the urgency of finding solutions. As temperatures continue to climb, what researchers learn in places like Phoenix could shape how communities far beyond the desert adapt to a hotter future.