The last heat wave in Europe has an unofficial name: Caronte

European media refer to the last heat wave in southern Europe as "Caronte", after the setter of Dante Alighieri's poem "Inferno". This name was not chosen by the World Meteorological Organization or another official agency, but by Antonio Sanò, who founded the Italian meteorological site Il Meteo.

Some climate experts are urging government agencies to start naming heat waves, as they do hurricanes and tropical storms.

Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, which focuses on climate adaptation, said naming and categorizing heat waves based on their severity would raise awareness of the dangers of extreme heat.

"Heat, because it's quiet and invisible, doesn't have the telegenic character of those other big weather hazards like floods, hurricanes and fires," said Ms. McLeod . “People don't have the awareness that is needed, and that's why it kills more people than any other climate hazard. It needs public relations and branding,” she said.

Mr. Sanò, the founder of Il Meteo, said that he started naming heat waves in 2012 in order to explain the heat wave in audience in a simple and memorable way.An avid reader of classic literature, Mr. Sanò dubbed last week's heat wave in southern Europe "Cerberus", after the many-headed dog that guards the underworld in the Greek mythology.

So far, however, government agencies have no immediate plans to assign names to heat waves.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The World Meteorological Organization said in a statement Tuesday that naming heat wave events emphasizes on the wrong issues. The organization, which has 193 member states and territories, added that naming could distract public and media attention from the most important messages, including who was at risk and how to respond.

A study published last week in the journal Nature Medicine found that more than 61,000 people died from last year's summer heat waves across Europe.

The National Weather Service in the United States also has no plans to start naming heat waves, according to Susan Buchanan, spokeswoman for the National Weather Service. But he is working on his public messages about the dangers of heat and improving public understanding of its health effects.

On average, more than 600 people are killed every year in extreme heat in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number is likely much higher because heat stroke deaths are often not classified as such.

Heat waves are expected to become more frequent, especially in urban centers, where the risk tends to be higher. A major United Nations climate report released in October highlighted new data showing that heatwaves will affect virtually every child in the world by 2050. Children are more exposed to heat because they are less able to regulate their body temperature.