www.axios.com /extreme-weather-worsening-climate-change-study-6aee3d55-25ec-4a4f-994e-c0af813f7246.html

New metric shows how severe global warming is getting

Andrew Freedman 3-4 minutes

By taking into account how increasing surface temperatures will alter both humidity and a measure of the energy contained in the atmosphere, a new study finds the world is at a growing risk of extreme weather events.

Driving the news: The study, published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on an integrated temperature and humidity metric.

What they found: Surface warming is causing a faster increase in humidity, since warm air can hold more water vapor, and warming seas and land surfaces are giving up more water into the atmosphere through evaporation.

Threat level: At the same time, heat extremes could become 14 to 30 times more frequent, due to the combination of high heat and humidity.

What they're saying: "It is the humidity increase accompanied by warming which makes climate changes into a climate crisis worldwide," study co-author V. Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in an email.