A construction crew works on a train station during a hot day in Yucatán, Mexico on Aug. 31, 2023. Credit: Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP via Getty Images In April, during an intense heat wave in the Mexican city of Monterrey, María de Jesús Ávila was leaving work when she spotted a man unconscious on the sidewalk outside a construction site. She rushed over to check if he was still breathing—but it was too late. Moments later, an ambulance arrived to carry his body away. Between April and June 2024, Mexico endured three record-breaking heat waves . Temperatures in the hottest areas, like Monterrey, soared to 113°F (45°C). By the end of the third wave, Mexico’s Health Ministry reported 1,937 heat-related medical cases and 90 fatalities from heat strokes and dehydration. “I’ll never forget it,” Ávila said, reflecting on the April incident. The man looked no older than his early 30s, said Ávila, a sociologist at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León who for years has studied the growing impact of extreme heat on northern Mexico’s workers. While scientists have long monitored vulnerable groups like the elderly during extreme weather events, new evidence reveals a startling trend: Younger workers have become one of the most at-risk groups for heat-related deaths over the past two decades. Newsletters We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web’s top headlines deliver the full story, for free. ICN Weekly Saturdays Our #1 newsletter delivers the week’s climate and energy news – our original stories and top headlines from around the web. Get ICN Weekly Inside Clean Energy Thursdays Dan Gearino’s habit-forming weekly take on how to understand the energy transformation reshaping our world. Get Inside Clean Energy Today’s Climate Twice-a-week A […]
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