Extreme heat belt to cover middle of US: Report

New Delhi, Aug 16: An extreme heat belt, an area of intensely warm weather with at least one day per year in which the heat index hits 125 Fahrenheit (52C), is expected to cover a US region which is hometown over 100 million people by the year 2053 a report said.

The research carried out by nonprofit First Street Foundation used a peer reviewed model built with public and third party data to estimate the heat risk at what they called a hyper local scale of 30 square metres.

The mission is to make climate risk modelling accessible to the public, government and industry representatives such as real estate investors and insurers.

One of the key finding from the study was that heat exceeding the threshold of the National Weather Service's highest category called Extreme Danger or above 125F was expected to impact 8.1 million people in 2023 and grow to 107 million people 2053 which is a 13 fold increase.

This would encompass a geographical region stretching from northern Texas and Louisiana to Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin . The heat index also known as the apparent temperature is what the outside temperature really feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with air temperature.