Europe sweltered under a record-breaking heatwave on Tuesday as temperatures soared pushing mercury levels way above the normal levels for May.
This came even as both the United Kingdom and France logged their hottest ever day in the month of May on Monday. The UK recorded a temperature of 35.1 degrees Celsius at Kew Gardens in southwest London, breaking the record of 34.8 which was set at the same location on Monday, AFP reported.
France too experienced its hottest-ever May day on Monday, and again on Tuesday, with the country’s weather agency forecasting that the heatwave could last for the rest of the week. It further predicted that temperatures could rise to as high as 39 degrees Celsius in some places.
Meanwhile, people in western Europe headed to beaches, and were seen using handheld fans and umbrellas on the streets to bear the heat. Crowds were seen at Rome’s Barcaccia fountain and bubblers in the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris, according to an AFP report.
Why are temperatures peaking in Europe?
Europe has been hit by a so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa, which is leading to an unprecedented increase in temperatures, AFP reported. A high pressure system has trapped the warm air over western Europe.
French health minister Stephanie Rist said it was not “an emergency situation”, but added, “We need to be wary of these heatwaves, even if we’re starting to get used to them.”
Human-driven climate change has also amplified the extremes in weather, including heatwaves, droughts, and floods becoming more intense and frequent, scientists said.
“We now have the climate of the Mediterranean countries in the summer but we don’t have the buildings and offices built for a Mediterranean climate,” Bob Ward, from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, told AFP.
Drowning deaths linked to heatwave conditions
French authorities on Tuesday reported at least seven deaths linked to the heatwave conditions, five of them being drownings, according to AFP. Several people rushed to water spots owing to the heat, despite the lifeguard supervision on beaches not due to start in several areas before July.
In UK, authorities said at least four teens had drowned since Sunday last week.
Some of the European residents, meanwhile, pondered getting air conditioning, to which they are usually averse. “I’m thinking about actually maybe getting an AC unit, because the bedrooms at nighttime are quite unbearable,” 47-year-old Gurjit Gill, who works in banking, told AFP.
