Europe was hit by a heatwave, and many places have set high-temperature records. After Spain, Portugal and France broke the high temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, the UK Met Office issued the first red extreme heat national severe weather warning, and a new record high temperature of 40 degrees Celsius is expected next week.
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Taipei, TAIWAN (Merxwire) – Europe has been hit by a heatwave, and many places have set new high-temperature records. In addition to causing a health crisis for people, the hot climate has also caused the problems of drought and wildfire. After Spain, Portugal, and Italy in southern Europe broke the high-temperature record of more than 40 degrees Celsius, the UK Met Office issued a national emergency warning on July 15 for abnormal high-temperature phenomenon and issued the first red extreme heat warning to some areas. A new record temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius is expected next week.
The UK Met Office said that the average temperature in mid-July was about 74 degrees Fahrenheit in the past, but based on the current weather forecast, it is estimated that there may be hot high temperatures of 90 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend and next week, and some areas may even experience 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is 18 degrees Fahrenheit above the previous average and could be seen on July 18 or July 19. The highest temperature record in the UK was 101.7 degrees Fahrenheit at Cambridge University on July 25, 2019, and has a 30% chance of being broken next week.
The UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office have issued a level 3 heat health alert for some areas this week, activating health care and social services to protect vulnerable people. In some areas, the red level 4 extreme heat warning was issued for the first time. “Red Extreme Heat Warning” means that when a heatwave is too severe or prolonged, it can exceed the capacity of human health and social care systems, potentially causing illness or death in healthy people. Hot areas can also experience melting of road surfaces due to the heat, which can result in road closures or delays of traffic flights.
France, which also belongs to Western Europe, has also experienced high temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in mid-June. Météo-France also announced on July 14 that the rising temperature will continue until July 19, and it is likely to rewrite the high-temperature records around the country.
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Spain and Portugal have been hit by heatwaves ahead of the UK and France, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in many areas. The latest high temperature in the Spanish city of Zamora was 41.4 degrees Celsius and the new high-temperature record in Ourense was 43.2 degrees. The Portuguese city of Lousã set a high-temperature record of 46.3 degrees Celsius, and the capital Lisbon reached 41.4 degrees, the highest temperature in July than before.
One of the most immediate dangers brought by high temperatures is the occurrence of fires. In Spain, Portugal, and France, under the shroud of high temperature, wildfires have continued in some areas due to dry friction, and more than 20 fires have erupted. Wildfires caused by high temperatures in Portugal have burned more than 30,000 hectares of land in the past week, and the total area burned in 2022 has exceeded last year. France has been affected by the heat wave since mid-June and the fires had burned nearly 10,000 hectares of land and forced more than 11,000 people to evacuate their homes. Spain burned far more forest than France.
The Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) has issued red weather warnings in 8 regions of the territory to prevent droughts and fires caused by dryness and reduce damage to people’s health. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (Copernicus) issued a high-risk wildfire warning for Spain, Portugal, and Greece. The heatwave has moved north and east, so both Western and Eastern Europe are starting to be significantly affected.
Scientists currently speculate that the cause of the abnormally high temperature has something to do with human-caused global warming, but further research is needed to determine whether the frequency and intensity of extreme weather have also increased as a result. A team of scientists studying the alarming heat in India this spring has found global climate change has increased the odds of unusually high temperatures by up to 30 times. Not only in Europe, but the high-temperature phenomenon in China has continued for more than 30 days, and 71 weather stations have recorded high temperatures that broke previous years. In many cities, the temperature exceeded 44 degrees Celsius.
Although we cannot attribute global warming to human behavior and cannot conclude that the cause of high temperature must be caused by climate anomalies caused by global warming. But there are many pieces of research to confirm that there is an absolute correlation. The climate systems of all continents are closely connected, and extreme climates will affect the natural environment and regional economic activities. Therefore, scholars and experts from all over the world have invested in research, hoping to understand the various changes brought by global warming to the climate and formulate various countermeasures.
As part of the planet, we must not ignore these warning signs of climate anomalies. We should try our best to reduce the waste of resources, pay attention to environmental protection, and reduce climate variability caused by human beings to protect the future of the earth.