Is extreme summer heat Europe’s new reality?
Some poeple take bath in a fountain near Eiffel Tower. Reuters.
Europe is reeling under intense heatwaves. Record-breaking temperatures are making people ill and disrupting everyday life. Deaths linked to extreme heat have climbed past a thousand.
Researchers say such scenes may be becoming the new normal for Europe. This was reported by Al Jazeera.
On Sunday, temperatures crossed 40 degrees Celsius in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, severely disrupting transport systems. In France, while the national daily average temperature stood at 29.8 degrees Celsius, it reached 44 degrees in one city. The country reported more than a thousand excess deaths linked to the heat.
People come to a Hungary lake to cool themselve. Reuters.
World Weather Attribution said that last summer’s heatwaves alone caused an estimated 2,300 climate-related deaths across 12 European countries.
According to the group’s research, the likelihood of extreme heatwaves is now ten to one hundred times higher than in 2003. Fifty years ago, such conditions would have been unthinkable.
Hans Kluge, Director of the Europe region at the World Health Organization, warned that in a warming European climate, heat-related deaths could become a regular occurrence.
He said that since the 1990s, an average of 52 additional deaths per million people have been recorded each year, with no sign of the trend slowing.
Is this the new normal? Experts say the evidence is pointing in that direction.
French govt permits swiming in some lakes and water pools for peoples' respite in the scorching heat. Reuters photo.
Data from World Weather Attribution shows that during the June 1976 heatwave, average temperatures were about 3.5 degrees Celsius lower than today. Even in 2003, temperatures were around 2 degrees lower.
University of Reading researcher Akshay Deoras said, “This is like a race where the starting line has been moved closer to the finish.” He identified global warming as the main driver.
Data from Copernicus, the European Commission’s climate monitoring agency, shows that since the 1980s, Europe’s temperatures have been rising at nearly twice the global average rate.
Deoras said this means events once considered rare are becoming increasingly common.
World Weather Attribution’s modelling suggests that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at current levels, such heatwaves will occur every few decades. What now seems extreme could become the defining feature of a typical European summer.
