Climate change debates aside, the raw numbers show San Antonio is becoming much hotter, much more often. What does this mean to our city, and to a state where nearly 40 percent of the labor force is working outside?

Most people don’t realize it wasn’t always this hot here. When record-keeping in San Antonio started in the late 1800s, it took at least three or four years to rack up that many triple-digit days.

As the Earth continues to warm at a higher-than-normal rate in part because of burning of fossil fuels, climate scientists predict San Antonio will get even hotter. The city could see two to three additional weeks a year when temperatures top 100 degrees.

This warming will have consequences, especially to the local economy. Extreme heat will hit outdoor workers, the poor and the elderly hardest. For the better-off, climate change may not make San Antonio unlivable, but it will undoubtedly make life hotter and harder by the middle of the 21st century.

One prominent study published in the journal Science in June put Bexar County on the front lines of declines in the outdoor labor force, more heat-related deaths and a decrease in economic output.

Learn more about what's happening and being done to deal with a warming climate along with how to make your home more climate friendly.

Source: SIXTY DAYS A YEAR ABOVE 100° – San Antonio Express, 2017-09-24