Dangerous combination of extreme heat and smoke affected 16.5 million Californians

Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are each hazardous to our health, but recent studies suggest that when we ’re exposed to both at the same time, the impact can be greater than their combined individual effects. Now, UCLA researchers and colleagues have determined just how often Californians experience this dangerous double whammy.In a studypublished this month in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, the research team found that during California ’s record-breaking 2020 fire season, roughly 16.5 million people — 42% of the state’s population — were exposed to a combination of extreme temperatures and high concentrations of fine particulate matter from wildfires at least once. People in areas of lower population density near wildfire prone forests were disproportionately affected.These instances of simultaneous smoke and extreme heat affected 68% of California ’s overall land area between June and November 2020, said lead study author Noam Rosenthal, a doctoral student at theUCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.With climate change projected to drive more intense heat waves and wildfires, increasing the number of smoke –and–extreme heat co-occurrence events, the growing risks could potentially overwhelm health systems, Rosenthal noted.Wildfires release fine particulate matter that can lead to respiratory and circulatory problems, and extreme heat can contribute to illnesses like heat stress, heatstroke, cardiovascular disease and even ren...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news