CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We are finally having a cool-down this week in Charlotte, but with the extremely hot temperatures seen around the country recently, one WCNC Charlotte viewer wanted to know if it's similarly heating up across the globe.
THE QUESTION
These extreme temperatures in the United States seem to support "global warming." What are the current weather conditions in other countries in the world?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, other countries across the globe are heating up.
WHAT WE FOUND
"It is absolutely true that it is warming across the world," Van Voorhees said. "Warming and cooling has always happened -- I want to make that very, very clear -- it has just never warmed at the rate that it currently is."
According to Climate.gov, 2023 was the warmest year on record globally. Temperatures were not just heating up in the United States, but around the world.
"One of the biggest reasons why is an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, things like carbon dioxide," Van Voorhees s said. "Main reason why is because things like that absorb heat and they readmit them back into the atmosphere and because of the higher amount of greenhouse gas emissions, we of course continue to warm."
So let's take a look at temperatures around the world. We'll focus on some of the Olympic cities.
For the same period from July 26 to Aug. 11, the average temperature has increased by 5.5 degrees in Paris compared to 100 years ago when Paris held the last Olympics. In 2022, the Winter Olympics were held in Beijing; their average temperature went up 9 degrees since 1950.
We will see the Winter Olympics in 2026 in Italy; their average temperature is up 6 degrees since 1950.
"The reason why you oftentimes might also feel like you're hearing about heat waves a little bit more often is that about 75 years ago or so, in the 1950s and 1960s -- especially here in the U.S. -- the ratio of heat waves to cold waves was about one-to-one. We saw about an even amount of heat waves from cold waves. But now, that ratio is about 2 to 1 so we see about two heat waves for every cold wave," Van Voorhees said.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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