Every year could bring a heat wave if climate change continues

BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Without reductions in planet-warming emissions, blistering heat waves of the strength that now typically occur once every 20 years could happen annually on 60 percent of the Earth's land areas by 2075, scientists have warned.

And intense heat waves - defined as three exceptionally hot days in a row - will become far more extreme if greenhouse gas emissions continue unchecked, said a new study published in the journal Climatic Change.