When red-hot isn't enough: New government heat risk tool sets magenta as most dangerous level

WASHINGTON (AP) — Forget about red hot. A new color-coded heat warning system relies on magenta to alert Americans to the most dangerous conditions they may see this summer. The National Weather Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday — Earth Day —...

Laborers and street vendors in Mali find no respite as deadly heat wave surges through West Africa

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Street vendors in Mali's capital of Bamako peddle water sachets, ubiquitous for this part of West Africa during the hottest months. This year, an unprecedented heat wave has led to a surge in deaths, experts say, warning of more scorching weather ahead as effects of climate...

Myanmar’s military says Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as a health measure in a heat wave

Water guns are in full blast to mark Thai New Year festivities despite worries about heat wave

It's water festival time in Thailand where many are marking the country's traditional New Year, splashing each other with colorful water guns and buckets in an often raucous celebration that draws thousands of people, even as this year the Southeast Asian nation marks record-high temperatures...

Heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane levels in the air last year spiked to record highs again

The levels of the crucial heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere reached historic highs last year, growing at near-record fast paces, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Carbon dioxide, the most important and abundant of the greenhouse gases caused...

Study says since 1979 climate change has made heat waves last longer, spike hotter, hurt more people

Climate change is making giant heat waves crawl slower across the globe and they are baking more people for a longer time with higher temperatures over larger areas, a new study finds. Since 1979, global heat waves are moving 20% more slowly — meaning more people stay hot longer...

It's a bittersweet Easter for chocolate lovers and African cocoa farmers but big brands see profits

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Shoppers may get a bitter surprise in their Easter baskets this year. Chocolate eggs and bunnies are more expensive than ever as changing climate patterns eat into global cocoa supplies and the earnings of farmers in West Africa. About three-quarters of the...

Schools to reopen in South Sudan after two weeks of extreme heat

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan's government on Tuesday said schools will reopen next week following a two-week closure due to extreme heat across the country. The health and education ministries said temperatures were expected to steadily drop with the rainy season set to...

The ‘Taylor Swift effect’ aims to provide water during Brazil's life-threatening heat waves

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian climatologist Núbia Beray Armond for years had been sounding the alarm about Rio de Janeiro's need for an extreme heat plan including water distribution. Interest was tepid until a disastrous Taylor Swift concert — and now her phone won't stop ringing. ...

Drought pinched Louisiana's crawfish harvest, but mudbug fans are weathering the shortage

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In Jeff Pohlmann's 39 years of selling crawfish in Louisiana he has never seen the industry face such an abysmal shortage of “mudbugs.” Driven by last summer's drought, extreme heat, saltwater intrusion on the Mississippi River and a hard winter freeze,...