"Rising Temperatures: The Lethal Impact of Climate Change in West Africa"

A historic heat wave in West Africa, attributed to human-caused climate change, has raised concerns about a sudden surge in global temperatures. The planet has breached a feared warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, with nearly 19,000 weather stations recording record high temperatures since January 1. Scientists are puzzled by the unprecedented scale and intensity of this hot streak, and are uncertain whether Earth's climate has undergone a fundamental shift. Even if global temperatures return to a more predictable trajectory, the effects of warming on people and ecosystems have already entered uncharted territory, with previously unthinkable events becoming commonplace as the world continues to warm.