Hooray! Heat Waves Are Now Bad Enough to Get Names

Thousands of people have died.

New Spark

Heat waves are bad enough that Seville, Spain decided to create its own naming and rating system for them. On Tuesday, Politico reported that heatwave Zoe hit temperatures of 110 degrees Fahrenheit and was given the most severe category the system has.

Only the worst of the worst waves will get names, and they'll go in reverse backwards order. Future heat waves will be called Yago, Xenia, Wenceslao and Vega.

On Monday, TIME reported that the naming system was designed to increase awareness in the same way US hurricane names do — an attempt to keep residents safer in the heat.

Serious Heat

As of July 18, the Carlos III Health Institute estimated there were 510 heat-related deaths between Jul 10 and 16 in Spain. As of July 31, the daily mortality monitoring system for all causes, also called MoMo, reported a total of 2,064 heat-related deaths in Spain in the month of July. The site is coordinated by the country's Ministry of Health.

In addition, Reuters reported that there were more than 1,000 heat-related deaths between July 7 and July 18 in Portugal. The report dropped the same day that the UK broke both its previous records for hottest day and night temperatures.

There's no denying the world is getting hotter, and that the heat is killing thousands of people.

Saving lives as climate change worsens means both providing eco-friendly cooling options and stopping Earth's temp climbs at the same time.

More on environmental news: Taylor Swift Didn't Rack Up Wasteful Private Jet Miles Alone, Team Says