Climate change: World face temperature increase as many days over 50C

The total number of days that registered a temperature above 50C (122F) has increased in each decade since 1980.

The number of extremely hot days, that is above 50C has doubled since the 1980s.

On average, between 1980 and 2009, temperatures passed 50C about 14 days a year.

The number rose to 26 days a year between 2010 and 2019, which represents extra two weeks per year.

“The increase can be 100% attributed to the burning of fossil fuels,” says Dr Friederike Otto, associate director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

Temperatures of 50C happen mostly in the Middle East and Gulf regions.

As these increases happen more frequently and in different areas of the world, human health and lifestyles may be affected by them.

High heat can be deadly for humans and nature, and cause major problems to buildings, roads and power systems.

And after record-breaking temperatures of 48.8C in Italy and 49.6C in Canada this summer, scientists have warned that days over 50C will happen elsewhere unless we cut fossil fuel emissions.

“We need to act quickly. The faster we cut our emissions, the better off we’ll all be,” says Dr Sihan Li, a climate researcher at the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford.