The tried-and-true advice for handling awkward family members on Thanksgiving is to arrive with prepared conversation topics, take breaks to decompress, set boundaries for sensitive subjects and have some rehearsed, calm responses for challenging discussions.
Right now, as you’re probably finalizing your plans for the end-of-the-year holidays, there are some new developments in travel—and family get-togethers—that I think you might find interesting. No matter where in the world you intend to visit this season, you’ll probably run into a striking, new phenomenon: on every continent except Antarctica, distinct regions are seeing repeated heat waves that are so extreme that they fall far beyond what any model of global warming can predict or explain. And that excessive heat is significantly affecting our daily activities, leading people in multiple places to reduce their outdoor time and alter their transportation choices.
Heat will also cause our airline flights to change in the next few decades. Some airports with shorter runways may need to reduce their maximum take-off weight by the equivalent of approximately 10 passengers per flight during the hotter months.
And while sharing a Thanksgiving meal with crazy Uncle Charlie or confused Aunt Mary may not be something you’re exactly looking forward to, it may look a lot more enticing once you learn about one of your truly “awkward” cousins.
Lytton, British Columbia, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Thompson River (shown above) and the Fraser River. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada was in Lytton on June 29, 2021. While the community was devastated by a wildfire that year, the area remains a tourist destination.
Heat-wave hot spots are popping up across the globe
July 22, 2024, was the hottest global average day in recent records, according to a NASA analysis of global daily temperature data. And 2024 has now officially taken over the title of hottest year on record from the former titleholder, 2023.
Amid this upward march in average temperatures, a remarkable phenomenon is emerging: distinct regions of the Earth are experiencing repeated, extreme heat waves that are unexplainable. In fact, the first worldwide map of such regions, which show up on every continent except Antarctica, was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November 2024. In recent years, these heat waves have killed tens of thousands of people, withered crops and forests, and sparked devastating wildfires.
Scientists at the Columbia University Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York conducted the study, which looked at heat waves over the past 65 years, identifying areas where extreme heat is accelerating considerably faster than more moderate temperatures. This often results in maximum temperatures that have been repeatedly broken by outsize, sometimes astonishing, amounts. For instance, a nine-day wave that hammered the U.S. Pacific Northwest and southwestern Canada in June 2021 broke daily records in some locales by 54 degrees Fahrenheit. This included the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada, 121.3 degrees Fahrenheit, in Lytton, British Columbia. The town burned to the ground the next day in a wildfire driven, in large part, by the drying of vegetation in the extraordinary heat. In Oregon and Washington state, hundreds of people died from heatstroke and other health conditions.
Heat waves in Australia are becoming more frequent, intense and long-lasting, with a particularly sharp rise in recent decades. Research shows that this trend is linked to climate change.
These extreme heat waves have been predominantly occurring in the last five years or so, though some happened in the early 2000s or before. The most hard-hit regions include scattered parts of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, eastern Australia, populous central China, Japan and Korea. Others include Canada’s Northwest Territories and its High Arctic islands, northern Greenland, the southern end of South America and scattered patches of Siberia. Areas of New Mexico and Texas also appear on the map, though they are not at the most extreme end.
According to the study’s findings, the most intense and consistent signal comes from northwestern Europe, where sequences of heat waves contributed to approximately 60,000 deaths in 2022 and 47,000 deaths in 2023. These occurred across France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other countries. Recently, the hottest days of the year have been warming twice as fast as the summer mean temperatures. Europe is especially vulnerable, in part, because unlike places in the United States, few people have air-conditioning since traditionally it was almost never needed. The heat outbreaks have continued; as recently as September 2024, new maximum temperature records were set in Austria, France, Hungary, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden.
The researchers call the statistical trends “tail-widening”; that is, these anomalous occurrences of temperatures at the far upper end are beyond anything that would be expected with simple upward shifts in mean summer temperatures. But the phenomenon is not happening everywhere; the study shows that maximum temperatures across many other regions are lower than what models would predict. These include wide areas of the north-central United States and the south-central of Canada, interior parts of South America, much of Siberia, northern Africa and northern Australia. Heat is increasing in these regions as well, but the extremes are increasing at similar or lower speeds than what changes in average would suggest.
The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average, with some areas—like the Barents Sea—warming up to seven times faster. This accelerated warming is partly driven by the loss of reflective sea ice, which exposes darker ocean water that absorbs more heat.
Climbing overall temperatures make heat waves more likely in many cases, but the causes of the extreme heat outbreaks are not entirely clear. In Europe and Russia, an earlier study blamed droughts and heat waves on wobbles in the jet stream, a fast-moving river of air that continuously circles the Northern Hemisphere. Hemmed in by historically frigid temperatures in the Far North and much warmer ones farther south, the jet stream generally confines itself to a narrow band. But the Arctic is warming on average far more quickly than most other parts of the Earth; and this appears to be destabilizing the jet stream, causing it to develop Rossby waves, which suck hot air from the south and park it in temperate regions that normally do not see extreme heat for days or weeks at a time.
This is only one hypothesis, and it does not seem to explain all the extremes. A study of the fatal 2021 Pacific Northwest/southwestern Canada heat wave identified a confluence of factors. Some appeared to be connected to long-term climate change; others to chance. The study identified a disruption in the jet stream similar to the Rossby waves thought to have affected Europe and Russia. It also found that decades of slowly rising temperatures had been drying out regional vegetation; so, when a spell of hot weather came along, plants had fewer reserves of water to evaporate into the air, a process that helps moderate heat. A third factor was that a series of small-scale atmospheric waves had gathered heat from the Pacific Ocean’s surface and transported it eastward onto land. As in Europe, in this region few people have air-conditioning because it is generally not needed, and this probably upped the death toll.
While the wealthy United States is better prepared than many other places, nevertheless excessive heat kills more people than all other weather-related causes combined, including hurricanes, floods and tornadoes. According to a study released in August 2024, the yearly death rate has more than doubled since 1999, with 2,325 heat-related deaths in 2023. This has recently led to calls for heat waves to be named like hurricanes to heighten public awareness and motivate governments to prepare.
Humans are not designed to cope with the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves, which put a dangerous strain on our bodies, leading to heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
Due to their unprecedented nature, these heat waves are usually linked to very severe health impacts; and they can be disastrous for agriculture, infrastructure and vegetation. We’re not built for them, and we might not be able to adapt fast enough.
Extreme heat is affecting daily routines and travel patterns
Last year, a team of researchers from Arizona State University, The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Washington conducted a study, which was published in the journal Transportation Research Part D in November 2024, that reveals that extreme heat radically alters how people go about their daily lives, influencing everything from time spent at home to transportation choices.
It was found that extreme heat vastly reduces the amount of time people spend outside their homes. On very hot days, people are more likely to stay indoors, cut back on outdoor activities and avoid nonessential travel. For instance, the data shows a marked decrease in trips made for leisure, shopping and socializing when temperatures soar. Additionally, people shift their travel to cooler times of the day, opting for early morning or late evening trips to avoid midday heat.
On very hot days, we’re more likely to stay indoors. If we must go out, we tend to use cars; while trips made by biking or walking drop significantly. This presents problems for cities aiming to promote sustainable transportation options.
A clear shift in transportation choices under extreme heat conditions was discovered, as well. Car use increases, while trips made by biking, walking and public transit drop dramatically. On average, public transit trips fall by nearly 50% on extreme heat days, as individuals seek relief in air-conditioned, private vehicles. The authors note that this shift presents significant challenges for cities aiming to promote sustainable transportation options.
Some groups are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of extreme heat. Low-income individuals and those without access to cars are more likely to rely on walking or public transportation, modes that leave them exposed to dangerous temperatures. These individuals also tend to be those with the least flexibility in terms of when and where they work, thus necessitating travel even when temperatures are oppressive.
While higher-income individuals reported making far fewer trips on extremely hot days, lower-income people and those without access to a car did not show appreciable drops in daily trip-making, suggesting that they are more vulnerable and exposed to the deleterious effects of extreme heat. Older adults, too, experience greater challenges in adapting their daily routines and risk more social isolation on days that they shelter indoors from the heat.
Urban design improvements, such as planting more trees, could help mitigate the impacts of extreme heat on communities and create more heat-resilient cities.
With extreme heat events becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, the study’s findings are especially timely. The authors propose a range of policy recommendations to help mitigate the impacts of extreme heat on communities and steps to create more heat-resilient cities. These include offering vouchers for on-demand, door-to-door transportation for vulnerable populations; urban design improvements, such as using heat-reflective materials on pavements, planting more trees and creating more shaded public spaces; and declaring “heat days” that are similar to “snow days,” when workplaces and schools are closed to protect the public.
Holiday flights could carry fewer passengers as the world warms
The fact that heat is increasingly affecting our travel patterns and plans is seen in another study. Rising temperatures due to climate change may force aircraft at European airports to reduce passenger numbers in the coming decades.
Scientists from England’s University of Reading studied how hotter air affects aircraft performance during takeoff at 30 sites across Europe. When air gets warmer, it becomes less dense, making it harder for planes to generate lift, the force that allows them to fly.
While larger airports like London’s Heathrow have runways long enough to handle A320 aircraft even in extreme heat, they may face challenges with larger aircraft, such as the Airbus A380, which needs more runway space.
The research, published in the journal Aerospace in February 2025, focused on the Airbus A320, a common aircraft used for short- and medium-haul flights across Europe. By the 2060s, some airports with shorter runways may need to reduce their maximum takeoff weight by the equivalent of approximately 10 passengers per flight during summer months. That could increase the price of your summer holiday as flights carry fewer people due to climate change.
Of the sites studied, the findings note four, popular tourist destinations that will be most affected: Chios, Greece; Pantelleria, Italy; Rome, Italy; and San Sebastian, Spain. These airports have shorter runways, meaning the airlines can’t operate planes at the maximum weight set by the manufacturer. Future increases in heat waves will only make this worse. While larger airports like London’s Gatwick and Heathrow have runways long enough to handle the A320 even in extreme heat, they may face challenges with larger aircraft, such as the Airbus A380, which needs more runway space.
The problem may also affect airport operations beyond simply reducing passenger numbers. Airlines might need to reschedule flights to cooler parts of the day, and runway maintenance needs could increase as surfaces degrade faster in extreme heat. Following a more sustainable climate path would stabilize these effects, state the researchers, whereas continued high emissions would make the problem significantly worse. Future studies will examine how other factors, such as humidity and changing wind patterns, may further impact takeoff performance.
Some say the sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is a thing of nightmares.
Your cousin is a sea monster
Hotter temperatures and changing airline schedules aren’t the only things that can cause stress during the late-year holidays. Seeing and having to interact with distant relatives with whom you have little in common is often a challenge. But I’m about to make you feel a little better, because as bad as you think spending time with some of your family members may be, I’ll bet you haven’t had to deal with these “cousins.”
The sea lamprey, a prehistoric animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares. Like other vertebrate animals, sea lampreys have a backbone and skeleton, but they are noticeably missing a head feature: a jaw. This striking difference in sea lampreys makes them valuable models for understanding the evolution of vertebrate traits.
Around 500 million years ago, there was a split at the origin of vertebrates between jawless and jawed. Seeking to understand how the vertebrate brain evolved and if there was something unique to jawed vertebrates that was lacking in their jawless relatives, researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, conducted a study into how the brains of ancient animals evolved. Previous work had shown that the genes structuring and subdividing the sea lamprey hindbrain (the back part of the brain that includes the cerebellum, the medulla oblongata and the pons; and that controls automatic body functions) are identical to those in jawed vertebrates, including humans. However, these genes are part of an interconnected network, or circuit, that needs to be initiated and directed to build the hindbrain correctly.
Although we look quite different, both humans and sea lampreys have hindbrains—the part of the brain that controls vital functions, such as blood pressure and heart rate—that are built using extraordinarily similar genetic and molecular tool kits.
The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications in February 2024, identified a common molecular cue. This cue is called retinoic acid, commonly known as vitamin A. While the researchers knew that retinoic acid cues the gene circuitry to build the hindbrain in complex species, it was not thought to be involved for more primitive animals like sea lampreys. Surprisingly, they found that the sea lamprey core hindbrain circuit is also initiated by retinoic acid, providing evidence that these sea monsters and humans are much more closely related than anticipated.
Fluctuating festivities are certainly ahead
Holiday traditions tend to change over the years, as we adapt to fluctuating family members and shifting addresses. Rarely, though, have we had to adjust to such rapid changes in the climate and their aftereffects.
I do hope, however, as the end of this year approaches, you find comfort in some old, family customs, as well as in embracing some new, creative conventions—and rad, remote relatives!
Here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,
Candy
The post Hot Holiday Travels and Awkward Family Reunions first appeared on Good Nature Travel Blog.