- Since 2003, Europe has had to deal with seven years of summer heat.
- In 2019, about 2500 people died from extreme heat waves.
- Spain reached 47°C in 2017.
Greece has experienced the worst heat wave in 30 years, and the forest fires in neighboring Turkey are raging. Let’s look at how Europe has been hit by extreme heat more frequently.
Since 2003, the African continent has had to deal with seven years of high summer temperatures. Scientists say that climate change may make heat waves more frequent and intense.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that Greece is suffering from “the worst heat wave since 1987,” with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday and Tuesday.
Turkey, Italy and Spain have also been hit by intense heat, and forest fires are now burning across the Mediterranean.
2019: record plunge
Scientists at the CRED Disaster Research Center of the University of Leuven in Belgium estimate that in June and July 2019, two waves of extreme high temperatures in Northern Europe caused about 2500 deaths.
On June 28, the temperature in the village of Verargues in southern France reached 46 degrees Celsius, breaking the national record set in 2003 by nearly two degrees.
The United Kingdom (38.7 degrees), Germany (42.6 degrees), Belgium (41.8 degrees) and the Netherlands (40.4 degrees) also set record highs in the second wave of July.
Last summer was characterized by a severe drought throughout Europe. Temperatures soared in the second half of July and early August, bringing the mighty Danube River to its lowest point in history.
Forest fires are also raging in large areas of Spain and Portugal.
From June to mid-August, several heat waves severely hit the southern part of the continent, and Spain set a record high temperature of 47.3 degrees Celsius in Montoro, a small town near Cordoba.
The temperature during the day stays above 40 degrees for the entire week.
The ensuing drought also caused deadly forest fires, especially in Portugal.
The high temperature appeared in early 2015, and the mercury content rose sharply in late June, reaching 37 in England in early July.
According to the French health department, the four heat waves that hit France that year caused about 1,700 deaths.
Beginning in late June 2007, Central and Southern Europe experienced a month of extremely hot weather.
More than 500 people died in Hungary alone, while Italy, northern Macedonia and Serbia suffered severe forest fires.
According to the European Union, the deadliest heat wave in recent decades hit Western Europe in early August 2003, killing as many as 70,000 people.
France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal were particularly hard hit, the latter setting an all-time highest temperature of 47.3 degrees.
The suffering of the elderly, isolated and disadvantaged groups is particularly severe. Approximately 40,000 deaths in France and Italy have led to major reforms of the authorities’ response to the intense heat.
Experts say that greenhouse gas emissions will increase the duration and severity of hot weather.
Scientists at World Weather Attribution found that human-influenced climate change “increased the likelihood of heat waves across northern Europe by at least five times” in 2019.
