Three days after the National Weather Service of Spain confirmed a record reading of 46 ° C in the southern city of El Granado, there was little break in day and night temperatures through the continent and beyond.
In Barcelona, a road sweeper would have died on Saturday after finishing his quarter of work, which caused a widespread survey and public calls to stay away from the sun as far as possible.
“Everyone is at risk,” said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (Wmo): “If you go out without water in the middle of the day, to jog, go for a bicycle ride, you will probably have health problems or even die. “”
Fossil fuel factor
If part of the reason for the heat of the heat of Europe is because it is at the grip of a high -pressure high pressure in North Africa weather, Ms. Nullis noted that “climate change induced by humans” is the source of these acute meteorological events.
Another part of the climate puzzle is that sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean are exceptionally high for this time of the year. “This is the equivalent of a terrestrial heat wave,” said OMM spokesperson.
“The extreme heat slips on you,” she added, while the dangerously hot conditions become “more frequent, more intense” due to the global warming caused by the combustion of fossil combustibles.
“This is something with which we have to learn to live,” said Nullis, stressing the importance of early warnings in national weather and hydrological services to prevent more deaths by extreme heat events-which are often “sub-reflective” in official statistics.
Hot days – and nights
According to the United Nations agency, the minimum night temperatures and the maximum daytime temperatures broke the station’s monthly records for June in certain parts of the west and southwest of Europe, partly explaining why the heat wave is so drained.
“The frequency and intensity of extreme heat events increase in Europe and in 2050, around half of the European population can be exposed to a high or very high risk of thermal stress during the summer,” said Nullis.
“What is exceptional – and I stressed exceptional but not unprecedented – is the time of year. We are July 1, and we see episodes of extreme heat that we would see normally later. »»
WMO insisted that the warnings of national weather services and coordinated thermal action plans are increasingly important to protect public security and well-being.
The United Nations agency promotes these efforts through its The first warnings for all platform.
A key component is the WMO coordination mechanism (Wcm) which supports the regions subject to the crisis and conflicts with advice. WMO organizes information authorizing the bad weather, the climate and the water in countries such as its WCM Global Hydromet Weekly Scan.
Publicado anteriormente en Almouwatin.
