The record precedent in the United Kingdom was 38.7ºC, recorded on July 25, 2019 in Cambridge.
This is the second heat wave in Europe in just one month. Its increase is, according to scientists, a direct consequence of the climate crisis, since greenhouse gas emissions increase in intensity, duration and frequency (see separate note).
The temperature record is “a real reminder that the climate has changed and will continue to change…” said Stephen Belcher, chief of science and technology at the Met Office. “These extremes are going to get more and more extreme,” he warned, saying the only way to stabilize warming is to quickly achieve carbon neutrality.
About 30 km. East of London, a spectacular fire swept through the town of Wennington on Tuesday afternoon, where a hundred firefighters were trying to control the flames that had already engulfed large tracts of vegetation and several buildings and houses.
Boris Johnson’s government was accused of not taking the phenomenon seriously after the outgoing prime minister skipped an emergency heatwave meeting on Sunday and attended a farewell party instead.
Doctors also condemned comments by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, who called on Britons to “enjoy the sun”.
Iberian Peninsula
In Spain, where the extreme heat wave began ten days ago, forest fires persisted, especially in the province of Zamora (northwest), which already suffered a major fire a month ago.
According to regional authorities, almost 6,000 people had to be evacuated.
Rail traffic remained suspended between Madrid and Galicia, a northwestern region known as one of Europe’s largest wolf reserves, where almost 30,000 hectares of land had already burned in a previous fire in June.
After several days in which 40ºC were exceeded in much of the country, the Spanish meteorology agency announced a slight truce.
On the other hand, more than 1,400 firefighters continued to fight the fires also in the center and north of Portugal, despite the sharp drop in temperatures recorded in recent days.
The two most worrying fires occurred in the Vila Real region, in the far north of the country. One of them caused the evacuation of 300 people on Monday night. A couple in their 70s died in the area after driving off the road while trying to escape the flames in their car.
Extension
The heat wave seemed to be moving to northern Europe yesterday, where the Netherlands was due to register 39°C, approaching its national record of 40.7° in 2019.
Temperatures were expected to exceed 41ºC in Germany, beating, according to meteorologists, the record of 41.2º registered in July 2019 in the west of the country. In France, after the many heat records recorded the day before, such as 42° in Nantes (central-west) or 42.6° in Biscarosse (south-west), temperatures were expected to drop slightly.
The country continues to face two major fires in the Bordeaux region, which have already destroyed 19,000 hectares of forest and caused the evacuation of 16,000 people.
The situation leads to dramatic situations such as the use of giant fans to reduce “thermal stress” that causes cows to eat less and produce less milk in French livestock regions.
About half of the territory of the European Union is currently at risk of drought due to the prolonged lack of rain.
This puts countries such as France, Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy at risk of seeing their agricultural yields reduced, the European Commission warned.
Source: Ambito
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