https://news.google.com/articles/CA...2Nb3CjDivdcCMOryngY?hl=en-SG&gl=SG&ceid=SG:en
Europe braces for another heatwave as forecasters predict record-breaking temperatures this week
Sam Meredith | @smeredith19
Published 6:01 AM ET Tue, 23 July 2019CNBC.com
ZAKARIA ABDELKAFI | AFP | Getty Images
The temperature in France on June 28 surpassed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time as Europe wilted in a major heatwave, state weather forecaster Meteo France said. Another bout of extreme weather is expected later this week.
Europe is set to endure its second record-breaking heatwave in as many months this week, with temperatures expected to climb close to and above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several countries across the continent.
It comes after soaring temperatures worldwide made last month the hottest June ever recorded, prompting some climate groups to warn of an "ecological emergency."
Much of Europe was engulfed in a sweltering heatwave from the end of June into early July, with temperatures climbing to 44.3 degrees Celsius in France's southern Vaucluse region.
And forecasters now expect to see another bout of extreme heat across the continent over the coming days.
Wildfire risk
Meteorological service Meteo France has predicted temperatures in Paris could exceed 41 degrees Celsius on Thursday, with "absolute heat records" under threat in several cities across the country.
The French capital has never seen the mercury climb above 41 degrees Celsius. The current record of 40.4 degrees Celsius was recorded back in 1947.
The rise in extreme weather, which has been linked to an intensifying climate crisis, has made the wildfire season in Europe longer and more dangerous.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which is tasked with providing comprehensive climate information for the EU, has warned another anticipated period of scorching heat will amplify the wildfire risk, particularly across France, Spain and Portugal.
The CS3's Emergency Management Service (EMS) has reportedly issued the highest threat level for forest fires across almost all of France and Spain, with "high" or "very high" threat levels forecast for large swathes of Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Germany.
In the U.K., the Met Office has said the July-high temperature of 36.7 degrees Celsius and the U.K. temperature record of 38.5 degrees Celsius could both be tied or surpassed on Thursday.
"The U.K. will experience another pulse of high temperatures this week, with the possibility of records being broken for not only July but also all-time records," Paul Gundersen, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said in a press statement on Monday.
"The weather setup is broadly similar to the pattern that brought high temperatures to much of continental Europe at the end of June," Gundersen said.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could also see all-time high temperatures this week, with highs of 39 degrees Celsius seen across all three countries.
July could be the warmest month ever measured on Earth
The latest continental weather warnings come after data collected by C3S showed global average temperatures for June 2019 were the highest on record for the month.
The data showed the global average temperature was 0.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous June record, set in 2016.
"This is significant," climate scientist Michael Mann said via Twitter last week, responding to data from Nasa also showing that last month was the hottest June ever recorded.
"But stay tuned for July numbers. July is the warmest month of the year globally. If this July turns out to be the warmest July (it has a good shot at it), it will be the warmest month we have ever measured on Earth," Mann said. (Parentheses in the quote are his).
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/wor...9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html?outputType=amp
Europe heat wave smashes temperature records across the continent
People cool down at the fountains of Trocadero, across from the Eiffel Tower, during a heatwave in Paris on July 25. (Julien De Rosa/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
By James McAuley and Andrew Freedman
July 25, 2019 at 10:11 AM EDT
PARIS — Europe suffered a second devastating heat wave on Thursday, with life-threatening temperatures breaking records across the continent.
The latest heat wave is one of the most intense on record, shattering all-time highs on Wednesday in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Some of these stood for only one day and were beaten on Thursday, when temperatures climbed even higher from France north into Britain and eastward to Germany.
London and Paris sweltered through their hottest days on record, with numerous other cities likely to see their highest temperatures since data collection began.
Temperatures in the French capital reached a jaw-dropping 108.3 degrees Fahrenheit (42.4 Celsius) shortly after 3 p.m. local time, according to Météo-France, the national weather service, breaking the previous record of 104.7F (40.4C) set in 1947.
“No one is safe in such temperatures,” said Agnès Buzyn, France’s health minister. “This is the first time that this affects departments in the north of the country . . . populations that are not accustomed to such heat.”
“Heat waves are a serious problem for older and ill people,” Anton Hofreiter, leader of Germany’s Green Party in parliament, told Der Spiegel. He said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government was not doing enough to support those affected and cited France as a role model.
It took 10 minutes for a chocolate Eiffel Tower to melt in the Paris sun as the city sweltered in record-breaking heat on July 25. (Reuters)
Twenty of France’s administrative departments — from Paris north toward the English Channel — were placed on the highest possible alert level.
Elisabeth Borne, France’s minister of sustainable development, urged citizens to cancel or postpone all unnecessary travel during the heat wave, expected to last until Friday. The SNCF, France’s state-owned railway company, allowed customers to exchange or cancel free of charge any Thursday travel to the 20 northern regions particularly affected.
In Belgium, where the government activated a “code red” alert over the hot weather for the first time, some regional trains were likewise out of service because the equipment could not stand the heat.
The mercury in Belgium hit 103.8F on Wednesday, the hottest since records began to be kept in 1833, and temperatures were expected to be even hotter on Thursday.
Punishing heat — in historic cities largely without widespread air conditioning, especially in homes — has become Europe’s new normal.
In much of Europe, air conditioning has often been seen as a luxury, and even an American-style indulgence. But that is changing, said Sacha Gaillard, a technician with Les Bons Artisans, a French company that, among other things, installs air conditioners.
Beach goers walk along the shore during a hot summer day at the beach in De Haan, Belgium on July 25. (Francisco Seco/AP)
“We are in a situation where people cannot live,” he said, noting that the company’s air conditioning business across France has increased exponentially in the past five years. “[People] can’t sleep at their apartments. Air conditioning is no longer a comfort. It’s a necessity. It’s as if people had no heat in winter.”
Despite the widespread misery during these increasingly frequent heat waves, however, there is still resistance to the view that air conditioning is a necessity. Some still see air conditioning primarily as a threat to the environment — precisely the wrong response to crippling heat waves triggered by climate change.
There also bureaucratic concerns. Many residential buildings in cities such as Paris are centuries old and are historically classified landmarks. Their facades cannot easily be altered without the express permission of city hall or an architectural union under the auspices of the Culture Ministry.
“Nine times out of 10, you’re not allowed to drill through the walls,” said James Devlin, a British man who runs James’Clim, an air conditioning installation service in Paris. He said that because the restrictions in Paris are extensive, most of his installations take place in the suburbs and surrounding area.
“If it’s not a listed building, they’re still very restricted. You don’t have a place to put the unit on the exterior,” he said.
There is also the price: For a family-sized Paris apartment of roughly 100 square meters, or 1,070 square feet, Devlin said that installing air conditioning could cost from 12,000 to 16,000 euros ($13,300 to $17,700). Even so, in the last five to six months, he said, he has had an installation almost every day. On Wednesday, the first day of the intense heat, he received more than 40 calls for consultations.
In the meantime, cities are coordinating impromptu measures for residents to cool off. Paris, for instance, has designated air-conditioned rooms in each arrondissement, or district, as well as outdoor swimming areas and parks that stay open around the clock.
In Europe, a historic heat wave is shattering records with astonishing ease, may hasten Arctic melt
A fire broke out along the side of a highway in France on July 24 as the country experienced record-high temperatures. (Stephan Gregoire via Storyful)
Long-term, human-caused climate change makes extreme-heat events like this one more likely to occur, more severe, and longer-lasting, according to numerous scientific studies.
For example, a recent scientific analysis, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed science journal, showed that the early-summer heat wave in Europe was at least five times more likely to occur in the current climate than if human-caused warming had not occurred.
Globally, 2019 is on its way to being one of the top five hottest years since record-keeping began in the late 19th century. And in part because of the hot weather in Europe, July may rank as the hottest month on record. June 2019 was already the hottest June to date.
The cause of this heat wave is a large area of high pressure, known as a “heat dome,” that has temporarily rerouted the typical flow of the jet stream and allowed hot air from Africa to surge northward. This weather feature is unusually intense, allowing for all-time temperature records to fall at the hottest time of year, when such records are usually so high they are difficult to topple.
The weather pattern responsible for this heat event is similar to the one that brought record heat to parts of Europe in late June into early July. However, this one is going to migrate northeast into Scandinavia, breaking records in Norway and Sweden late this weekend, and then it may go on to elevate temperatures across the Arctic Ocean, accelerating the melting of an already anemic sea ice cover.
The rising temperatures also heated up the political climate.
German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on a plan by the Green Party — which has become a major political force partially due to its push to decrease emissions and combat climate change — to prepare Germany for future heat waves. In its policy paper, Green Party officials propose a “right to home office” for all employees and a “right to be given the day off in case of excessively hot weather” for employees working outside.
The heat wave coincided with a visit of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to France earlier this week. She addressed the National Assembly on Tuesday, delivering a speech that triggered calls for boycotts from right-wing politicians.
“You don’t have to listen to us,” Thunberg said in her address, “but you do have to listen to the science.”
Freedman reported from Washington. Rick Noack in Berlin, Jennifer Hassan in London and Michael Birnbaum in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
Europe braces for another heatwave as forecasters predict record-breaking temperatures this week
Sam Meredith | @smeredith19
Published 6:01 AM ET Tue, 23 July 2019CNBC.com
- Much of Europe was engulfed in a sweltering heatwave from the end of June into early July, with temperatures climbing to 44.3 degrees Celsius in France's southern Vaucluse region.
- Forecasters now expect to see another bout of extreme heat across the continent over the coming days.
- "The U.K. will experience another pulse of high temperatures this week, with the possibility of records being broken for not only July but also all-time records," Paul Gundersen, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said in a press statement on Monday.
ZAKARIA ABDELKAFI | AFP | Getty Images
The temperature in France on June 28 surpassed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time as Europe wilted in a major heatwave, state weather forecaster Meteo France said. Another bout of extreme weather is expected later this week.
Europe is set to endure its second record-breaking heatwave in as many months this week, with temperatures expected to climb close to and above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several countries across the continent.
It comes after soaring temperatures worldwide made last month the hottest June ever recorded, prompting some climate groups to warn of an "ecological emergency."
Much of Europe was engulfed in a sweltering heatwave from the end of June into early July, with temperatures climbing to 44.3 degrees Celsius in France's southern Vaucluse region.
And forecasters now expect to see another bout of extreme heat across the continent over the coming days.
Wildfire risk
Meteorological service Meteo France has predicted temperatures in Paris could exceed 41 degrees Celsius on Thursday, with "absolute heat records" under threat in several cities across the country.
The French capital has never seen the mercury climb above 41 degrees Celsius. The current record of 40.4 degrees Celsius was recorded back in 1947.
The rise in extreme weather, which has been linked to an intensifying climate crisis, has made the wildfire season in Europe longer and more dangerous.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which is tasked with providing comprehensive climate information for the EU, has warned another anticipated period of scorching heat will amplify the wildfire risk, particularly across France, Spain and Portugal.
The CS3's Emergency Management Service (EMS) has reportedly issued the highest threat level for forest fires across almost all of France and Spain, with "high" or "very high" threat levels forecast for large swathes of Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Germany.
In the U.K., the Met Office has said the July-high temperature of 36.7 degrees Celsius and the U.K. temperature record of 38.5 degrees Celsius could both be tied or surpassed on Thursday.
"The U.K. will experience another pulse of high temperatures this week, with the possibility of records being broken for not only July but also all-time records," Paul Gundersen, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said in a press statement on Monday.
"The weather setup is broadly similar to the pattern that brought high temperatures to much of continental Europe at the end of June," Gundersen said.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could also see all-time high temperatures this week, with highs of 39 degrees Celsius seen across all three countries.
July could be the warmest month ever measured on Earth
The latest continental weather warnings come after data collected by C3S showed global average temperatures for June 2019 were the highest on record for the month.
The data showed the global average temperature was 0.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous June record, set in 2016.
"This is significant," climate scientist Michael Mann said via Twitter last week, responding to data from Nasa also showing that last month was the hottest June ever recorded.
"But stay tuned for July numbers. July is the warmest month of the year globally. If this July turns out to be the warmest July (it has a good shot at it), it will be the warmest month we have ever measured on Earth," Mann said. (Parentheses in the quote are his).
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/wor...9-9411-a608f9d0c2d3_story.html?outputType=amp
Europe heat wave smashes temperature records across the continent
By James McAuley and Andrew Freedman
July 25, 2019 at 10:11 AM EDT
PARIS — Europe suffered a second devastating heat wave on Thursday, with life-threatening temperatures breaking records across the continent.
The latest heat wave is one of the most intense on record, shattering all-time highs on Wednesday in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Some of these stood for only one day and were beaten on Thursday, when temperatures climbed even higher from France north into Britain and eastward to Germany.
London and Paris sweltered through their hottest days on record, with numerous other cities likely to see their highest temperatures since data collection began.
Temperatures in the French capital reached a jaw-dropping 108.3 degrees Fahrenheit (42.4 Celsius) shortly after 3 p.m. local time, according to Météo-France, the national weather service, breaking the previous record of 104.7F (40.4C) set in 1947.
“No one is safe in such temperatures,” said Agnès Buzyn, France’s health minister. “This is the first time that this affects departments in the north of the country . . . populations that are not accustomed to such heat.”
“Heat waves are a serious problem for older and ill people,” Anton Hofreiter, leader of Germany’s Green Party in parliament, told Der Spiegel. He said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government was not doing enough to support those affected and cited France as a role model.
It took 10 minutes for a chocolate Eiffel Tower to melt in the Paris sun as the city sweltered in record-breaking heat on July 25. (Reuters)
Twenty of France’s administrative departments — from Paris north toward the English Channel — were placed on the highest possible alert level.
Elisabeth Borne, France’s minister of sustainable development, urged citizens to cancel or postpone all unnecessary travel during the heat wave, expected to last until Friday. The SNCF, France’s state-owned railway company, allowed customers to exchange or cancel free of charge any Thursday travel to the 20 northern regions particularly affected.
In Belgium, where the government activated a “code red” alert over the hot weather for the first time, some regional trains were likewise out of service because the equipment could not stand the heat.
The mercury in Belgium hit 103.8F on Wednesday, the hottest since records began to be kept in 1833, and temperatures were expected to be even hotter on Thursday.
Punishing heat — in historic cities largely without widespread air conditioning, especially in homes — has become Europe’s new normal.
In much of Europe, air conditioning has often been seen as a luxury, and even an American-style indulgence. But that is changing, said Sacha Gaillard, a technician with Les Bons Artisans, a French company that, among other things, installs air conditioners.
“We are in a situation where people cannot live,” he said, noting that the company’s air conditioning business across France has increased exponentially in the past five years. “[People] can’t sleep at their apartments. Air conditioning is no longer a comfort. It’s a necessity. It’s as if people had no heat in winter.”
Despite the widespread misery during these increasingly frequent heat waves, however, there is still resistance to the view that air conditioning is a necessity. Some still see air conditioning primarily as a threat to the environment — precisely the wrong response to crippling heat waves triggered by climate change.
There also bureaucratic concerns. Many residential buildings in cities such as Paris are centuries old and are historically classified landmarks. Their facades cannot easily be altered without the express permission of city hall or an architectural union under the auspices of the Culture Ministry.
“Nine times out of 10, you’re not allowed to drill through the walls,” said James Devlin, a British man who runs James’Clim, an air conditioning installation service in Paris. He said that because the restrictions in Paris are extensive, most of his installations take place in the suburbs and surrounding area.
“If it’s not a listed building, they’re still very restricted. You don’t have a place to put the unit on the exterior,” he said.
There is also the price: For a family-sized Paris apartment of roughly 100 square meters, or 1,070 square feet, Devlin said that installing air conditioning could cost from 12,000 to 16,000 euros ($13,300 to $17,700). Even so, in the last five to six months, he said, he has had an installation almost every day. On Wednesday, the first day of the intense heat, he received more than 40 calls for consultations.
In the meantime, cities are coordinating impromptu measures for residents to cool off. Paris, for instance, has designated air-conditioned rooms in each arrondissement, or district, as well as outdoor swimming areas and parks that stay open around the clock.
In Europe, a historic heat wave is shattering records with astonishing ease, may hasten Arctic melt
A fire broke out along the side of a highway in France on July 24 as the country experienced record-high temperatures. (Stephan Gregoire via Storyful)
Long-term, human-caused climate change makes extreme-heat events like this one more likely to occur, more severe, and longer-lasting, according to numerous scientific studies.
For example, a recent scientific analysis, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed science journal, showed that the early-summer heat wave in Europe was at least five times more likely to occur in the current climate than if human-caused warming had not occurred.
Globally, 2019 is on its way to being one of the top five hottest years since record-keeping began in the late 19th century. And in part because of the hot weather in Europe, July may rank as the hottest month on record. June 2019 was already the hottest June to date.
The cause of this heat wave is a large area of high pressure, known as a “heat dome,” that has temporarily rerouted the typical flow of the jet stream and allowed hot air from Africa to surge northward. This weather feature is unusually intense, allowing for all-time temperature records to fall at the hottest time of year, when such records are usually so high they are difficult to topple.
The weather pattern responsible for this heat event is similar to the one that brought record heat to parts of Europe in late June into early July. However, this one is going to migrate northeast into Scandinavia, breaking records in Norway and Sweden late this weekend, and then it may go on to elevate temperatures across the Arctic Ocean, accelerating the melting of an already anemic sea ice cover.
The rising temperatures also heated up the political climate.
German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on a plan by the Green Party — which has become a major political force partially due to its push to decrease emissions and combat climate change — to prepare Germany for future heat waves. In its policy paper, Green Party officials propose a “right to home office” for all employees and a “right to be given the day off in case of excessively hot weather” for employees working outside.
The heat wave coincided with a visit of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to France earlier this week. She addressed the National Assembly on Tuesday, delivering a speech that triggered calls for boycotts from right-wing politicians.
“You don’t have to listen to us,” Thunberg said in her address, “but you do have to listen to the science.”
Freedman reported from Washington. Rick Noack in Berlin, Jennifer Hassan in London and Michael Birnbaum in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
