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It?g° ohot. Cttr?? 1 <br />refrigerator, ono <br />cmge / <br />feet <br />lit? e <br />(<i 1rL" in <br />Business Project Co -Chair Tom Steger <br />rent bef io fth the straightforward <br />sed .lrr?tate Chang; leads: to ruling <br />temperatures, <br />If we continue along our current path, with; no si ni?'icant <br />efforts to curb climate change, tltr . ;. will likely see sig- <br />nificantly more days above 951F eac;? year, By the mddle <br />of this century, the average American will likely see 26 <br />to 50 days over 95°F each year —from double to more <br />than triple the average number of 95`F days we've seen <br />over the past 30 to 40 years. Climate change impacts only <br />accelerate with time, so that by the end of this century <br />we will likely see 45 to 96 days per year over 95°F. That's <br />between one and a half and three months of the year at <br />what are now considered record hot temperatures. To <br />put this in context, by the end of the century, Oregon, <br />Washington, and Idaho could well have more days above <br />95°F each yea( than there are currently in Texas. <br />RISKY BUSINESS <br />e <br />IaiCS } (lair <br />ate Change <br />U., t 'e rrc es Is <br />so ove, (,iri i'`,,t ovCrt <br />United States <br />head is in <br />hese aue only the rn>st likely sce ,s; there are possible <br />lower and higher estimates outside the p ost likely range. <br />Within that range, there are also disparities, of course: As <br />the maps that. follow ;demonstrate, some regions of the <br />country will he far harder hit by extreme heat than others, <br />and some will experience rising temperatures in terms of <br />warmer winters rather than unbearable summers, <br />ghat matters isn't just the heat, it's the humidity-.._ or, in <br />this case, a dangerous combination of the two. One of <br />the most striking findings in our analysis is that increas- <br />ng heat and humidity in sorne parts of the country could <br />ead to outside conditions that are literally unbearable to <br />humans, who must maintain a skin temperature below <br />95°F in order to effectively cool down and avoid fatal heat <br />stroke. The U.S. has never yet seen e day exceeding this <br />thresnoid on what we call the "Humid Heat Stroke index," <br />but if we continue on our current climate path, this will <br />change, with residents in the eastern half of the U.S. ex- <br />periencing 1 sr.iCh day a year on average by century's end <br />ar y rat rly 13 such days per year into the next ce to y <br />