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Conrad Duncan
Jul 24, 2019
These climate maps show the terrifying scale of this week’s European heatwave.
Europe has been hit by extreme hot weather for the second time in two months, after June was the hottest ever recorded.
Yesterday, a World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) spokesperson told a UN Geneva press briefing that heatwaves are becoming both more frequent and more intense.
She added that these examples of extreme weather also “bear the hallmark of climate change”.
A map released by Copernicus EMS - an EU agency monitoring forest fires, floods and drought - showed the extent of extreme heat across the continent on Tuesday.
#ondatadicalore #ondadecalor #heatwave #canicule Land Surface Temperature over Europe (sorry for the missing parts)… https://t.co/wvadMOsTR6— Copernicus EMS (@Copernicus EMS) 1563963390
However, the worst heat is yet to come as much of Europe will be facing temperatures close to 40C on Thursday.
Record-setting heat envelops Europe again. Bordeaux registers 41.2C (106.1F). World Meteorological Organization of… https://t.co/4dgt3UCu1R— Jim Roberts (@Jim Roberts) 1563960673
Large parts of #Europe face another #heatwave this week, and new record temperatures are predicted. This map from… https://t.co/4NgiIu5l0h— World Meteorological Organization (@World Meteorological Organization) 1563867954
And while the UK has escaped the most extreme weather so far, that is likely to change later in the week - as the Met Office has said there is a 60 per cent chance that the record for the all-time highest temperature in the UK (currently 38.5C) will be broken.
It's looking likely that we could reach 39°C somewhere in southern and eastern England on Thursday. The hottest tem… https://t.co/oN3HmSb09n— Met Office (@Met Office) 1563955836
The effects of this kind of heatwave can be severe.
On Monday, Copernicus released a “Fire Danger Forecast” for Thursday which showed much of Europe with “high” or “very high” danger of forest fires and almost all of France and Spain classed as in “extreme danger”.
With a new heatwave annouced over western Europe, the Fire Danger Forecast doesn’t look good... Here is the #EFFIS… https://t.co/bC6Cych5lv— Copernicus EMS (@Copernicus EMS) 1563776483
The WMO has also released data which shows that many regions in France have seen virtually no rain since the last heatwave in June - worsening the country’s drought.
The new #heatwave will aggravate the drought in #France. Many regions have seen virtually no rain since the end of… https://t.co/getXnrmR3f— World Meteorological Organization (@World Meteorological Organization) 1563868293
And in Belgium, a code red weather warning has come into effect for Wednesday and Thursday, which means the whole population (not just vulnerable groups) have been advised to protect themselves from the sun.
For the 1st time the weather code red has come into effect in Belgium, for 24-25/07. Everyone should protect themse… https://t.co/1rPvK3SOf2— UK in Belgium🇬🇧🇧🇪 (@UK in Belgium🇬🇧🇧🇪) 1563952736
The UK also saw unusual weather last night as the Met Office recorded thousands of lightning strikes across the country.
Slept badly last night? There were thousands of lightning strikes recorded across the UK! Here's a replay 👇… https://t.co/ZT9Us5P7yT— Met Office (@Met Office) 1563964724
The problems are not exclusive to Europe either...
In India, people are suffering from severe water shortages - partly caused by an extreme heatwave.
If this doesn't disturb you, you probably deserve to die of climate change. https://t.co/o0BS8V4sgj— Zainab Sikander (@Zainab Sikander) 1563765694
In short, the world is on fire…
None of this is normal - for example, the average July maximum temperature for London’s Kew Gardens is 23.5C, according to Met Office data from 1981-2010.
On Thursday, it is predicted to be 38C.
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