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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ime-heat-record-french-media-says/1595935001/
It was 113 degrees in France today, an all-time record high, French media says
Associated Press Published 12:47 p.m. ET June 28, 2019 | Updated 2:46 p.m. ET June 28, 2019
Record-setting heat is scorching Europe. Red and orange alerts were issued in several European countries including France and Austria. USA TODAY
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PARIS — Schools are dousing kids with water and nursing homes are equipping the elderly with hydration sensors as France and other nations battle a record-setting heat wave baking much of Europe.
Several people have died around the continent in incidents that authorities are linking to the exceptional weather. A major wildfire raged Friday in Spain, sparked when a pile of chicken dung spontaneously combusted in the heat.
Several countries have reported record temperatures this week, and France hit its all-time heat record Friday: 113 degrees in the small southern town of Villevieille, according to French media.
The French national weather service activated its highest-level heat danger alert for the first time, putting four regions around Marseille and Montpellier in the south of the country under special watch Friday.
Fourth of July weather forecast: Hot as a firecracker for most of US, severe storms in Upper Midwest
Previously: Extreme heat continues to scorch Europe; France braces for possible all-time record high Friday
Those schools that stayed open worked to keep kids cool. Teachers at the Victor Hugo Primary School in Colombes near Paris abandoned suffocating classrooms and are keeping children outside all day, spraying them with water and organizing quiet activities in the shade.
"I make them go in the playground with books, in the shade, they must stay seated," said teacher Valerie Prevost. "We tell them to dampen their caps, to drink regularly."
About 4,000 schools closed because they couldn't ensure safe conditions, and local authorities canceled many end-of-school-year carnivals.
Some criticized the government for going overboard, but Prime Minister Edouard Philippe defended the efforts after 15,000 people died in a heat wave in 2003 that woke France up to the risks.
"This heat wave is exceptional by its intensity and its earliness," he told reporters.
"Measures have been taken for the most vulnerable people," he said "But given the intensity of the heat wave, it's the entire population who must be careful today ... both for oneself and for loved ones and neighbors."
Italy put 16 cities under alerts for high temperatures, and civil security services distributed water to tourists visiting famed sites around Rome under a scorching sun.
Heat was blamed for the deaths of two people in Spain, private news agency Europa Press reported Friday.
People enjoy the sun on the Trocadero gardens near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Friday, June 28. (Photo: Lewis Joly, AP)
An 80-year-old man collapsed and died in the street in Valladolid, in northwest Spain, the agency said, and a 17-year-old boy died in the southern city of Cordoba after diving into a swimming pool and losing consciousness.
In photos: Heat wave scorches Europe
Four people have drowned so far in France this week, and a 12-year-old girl drowned in a river near Manchester, England. France's health minister and British police warned people to swim only in authorized areas.
France has also seen an uptick in so-called street-pooling, or illegally opening fire hydrants. A 6-year-old child is in life-threatening condition after being hit by water shooting from a cracked-open fire hydrant in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, broadcaster France-Info reported.
More than 600 firefighters and six water-dropping aircraft were battling the worst fire in two decades in the Catalonia region Friday, as Spain is forecast to endure the peak of its heat wave, with temperatures expected to exceed 104 degrees.
In Berlin, a police unit turned water cannons — usually used against rioters — on city trees, to cool them down.
https://www.vox.com/world/2019/6/26/18744518/heat-wave-2019-europe-france-germany-spain
113 degrees in France: why Europe is so vulnerable to extreme heat
All-time temperature records have been broken in the heat wave sweeping the continent.
By Umair Irfan Updated Jun 28, 2019, 11:53am EDT
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Deadly hot weather has set records across Europe this week as a heat wave baked the continent. Monthly and all-time temperature records were broken Wednesday in parts of Germany, Poland, France, Spain, and the Czech Republic. At least two people died from the heat in Spain. Clermont-Ferrand, France reported a record high of 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit. But the country’s all-time temperature record of 113.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the village of Villevieille on Friday.
“The whole government is mobilized,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Monday. Public health warnings for heat have also been issued in Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland.
For the first time on record, #France sees a temperature above 45°C. Gallargues-le-Montueux recorded 45,9 °C, and Villevieille 45.1°C this afternoon. In France. in June. @meteofrance https://t.co/EfK5t9eCBd #heatwave #climatechange pic.twitter.com/yxGlfmUtms
— WMO | OMM (@WMO) June 28, 2019
The heat has forced the cancellation of some public events and caused schools in France to postpone exams for the first time ever. Public cooling rooms have been opened in Paris and other cities. The Women’s World Cup in France is still underway; matches are scheduled for evenings this week.— WMO | OMM (@WMO) June 28, 2019
The heat has also helped create the dry conditions fueling a massive 10,000-acre wildfire in Spain, one of the worst to hit the Catalonia region in 20 years.
Europe’s hot weather this follows some unusually warm temperatures in other parts of the world this month, including the Arctic. Temperatures in Greenland surged up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit above what’s normal this time of year, leading to the largest ice melt this early in the season on record. A heat wave in India this month has already killed dozens.
The high temperatures in Europe also stand to harm millions of people. And as average temperatures rise due to climate change, these spans of extreme heat are poised to get longer, more intense, more frequent, and deadlier.
Europe has a deadly history with heat
This week’s sweltering weather is concerning because there are several key factors that make people in Europe vulnerable to extreme heat.
These factors converged to a devastating effect in the summer of 2003, when a heat wave baked the continent with temperatures 13 degrees above the average normal for the region. The heat killed at least 30,000 people caused 13 billion Euros in financial damages. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 70,000. At the time, it was the hottest summer for Europe since the 16th century.
It was a wake-up call for the continent and starkly illustrated the hazards of extreme heat and what could be in store if nothing is done as the climate changes. Public health officials have long known that heat is one of the deadliest weather phenomena. While there is some debate over whether extreme highs are more dangerous than extreme lows, there are a number of mechanisms that make heat concerning.
High temperatures make it harder for the human body to shed heat, which can lead to dangerous conditions like heat exhaustion and heat stroke, as well as organ failure. But the biggest impacts of heat are indirect. It makes breathing more difficult. It worsens air quality. It stresses the circulatory system.
So heat turns out to be most dangerous for people with underlying illnesses and without access to adequate cooling. During the 2003 heat wave in Europe, the elderly comprised the largest share of the casualties, many with preexisting health conditions.
Europe is also not a region known for especially high temperatures, so many parts of the continent lack the resources to cope. Many buildings don’t have air conditioning and aren’t designed with passive cooling in mind. In Germany, as few as 2 percent of homes are air conditioned.
But it’s not necessarily how high temperatures rise that makes them so dangerous; it’s how different they are from what’s normal. That’s why heat waves can kill people in cool climates. People in sunny southern Spain can more readily cope with triple-digit temperatures but 90-degree days in cooler northern Germany can send people to the hospital.
Another factor to consider is that much of Europe is densely urbanized, with 72 percent of the European Union’s population living in cities, towns, and suburbs. Steel, concrete, and asphalt readily absorb heat and cause cities to warm up hotter than their rural surroundings, creating heat islands. As the populations of these cities grow, so does the number of people facing risks from extreme heat. And increasingly, it’s not just the sick and elderly who are vulnerable, but outdoor workers like farmers, landscapers, and construction crews.
Extreme heat is a vivid climate change signal
The length, intensity, and frequency of heat waves are on the rise, and Europe’s searing weather this week comports with what scientists expect as the climate changes, though it will take some time to tease out the specific extent of humanity’s role in the current wave.
The number of #heatwaves in #France has doubled in the past 34 years and is expected to double again by 2050, per @meteofrance #ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/uUHT1HgnLT
— WMO | OMM (@WMO) June 25, 2019
But researchers have built up a better understanding of last year’s heat wave across Europe in the context of climate change. Scientists reported last year that climate change has made heat waves similar to the 2018 heat wave in Europe five times more likely. Researchers also reported that 2018 was one of the hottest years ever.— WMO | OMM (@WMO) June 25, 2019
The concern now is that Europe today may not be prepared for the world to come. Infrastructure like roads, bridges, and rail tracks will now have to compensate for regularly high temperatures. Parts of Germany have already issued speed restrictions for the autobahn.
Similarly, extreme heat helped drive major wildfires as far north as the Arctic circle last year. Wildfires have again surged in Europe this year, so parts of Europe are dealing with weighty questions of whether they should rebuild in fire-prone regions or start to retreat as the risk of massive blazes next to densely populated areas grows.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48795264
European heatwave: France hits record temperature of 45.9C
- 28 June 2019
Related Topics
Image copyright AFP
France has hit its highest recorded temperature - 45.9C (114.6F) - amid a heatwave in Europe that has claimed several lives.
The new record was measured in the southern town of Gallargues-le-Montueux. Before this year the previous record was 44.1C during a heatwave in 2003 that killed thousands.
Health Minister Agnès Buzyn has said "everyone is at risk".
France's weather service has issued an unprecedented red alert for four areas.
Those are all in the south, but most of the country remains on orange alert, the second highest level.
Swathes of the continent are experiencing extreme heat. Germany, France, Poland and the Czech Republic have all recorded their highest-ever June temperatures.
In Spain firefighters are battling Catalonia's worst wildfires in 20 years. Eight provinces are on red alert while temperatures are expected to rise above 42C in many areas.
The Italian ministry of health has reported emergency levels of heat in 16 cities.
First loss of life
Several people are believed to have lost their lives as a result of the extreme temperatures, including two who died from suspected heatstroke in Spain.
One, a 17-year-old farm worker in Córdoba, went into convulsions after cooling down in the farm swimming pool, while an 80-year-old man died on a street in the northern city of Valladolid.
In France, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said a drowning was taking place every day and warned that the heat was making people "take risks".
On Thursday a 33-year-old roofer died after being taken ill as he worked on a building site in the western city of Rennes, where the temperature was 35C in the shade.
A six-year-old Syrian child was also in a serious condition after being thrown into the air by the force of a water jet from a fire hydrant that had been opened by residents in Saint Denis, north of Paris.
In the UK, police warned people of the dangers of cooling off in rivers and lakes after a 12-year-old girl drowned in the River Irwell in Greater Manchester.
Why is it getting so hot?
Meteorologists say hot air drawn in from northern Africa is responsible, caused by high pressure over central Europe and a storm stalling over the Atlantic.
In southern France, the areas of Gard, Vaucluse, Hérault and Bouches-du-Rhône are expected to see temperatures between 42C and 45C on Friday.
French authorities have stepped up restrictions on water use to combat the heatwave's effects, while 4,000 schools are now closed or have special measures in place to welcome pupils.
In a TV interview, Ms Buzyn said she was concerned about the increase in calls to emergency service numbers as a result of the heatwave.
She called on members of the public to avoid "risky behaviour" like leaving children in cars or jogging outside in the middle of the day.
Is climate change to blame?
Linking a single event to global warming is complicated.
While extreme weather events like heatwaves occur naturally, experts say these will happen more often because of climate change.
- In pictures: Europe seeks relief from the heat
- A guide to coping with the global heatwave
- Heatstroke - the heatwave killer
A climatology institute in Potsdam, Germany, says Europe's five hottest summers since 1500 have all been in the 21st Century.
Scientists are concerned that rapid warming linked to use of fossil fuels has serious implications for the stability of the planet's climate.
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