Europe's heatwave: temporary relief expected amid ongoing climate challenges
Image: REUTERS/African News Agency (ANA)
Europe continued to bake in an intense heat wave and cooler conditions in the coming days may bring only short-lived relief.
Health authorities in France and Germany issued red alerts as a lingering high-pressure system - known as a heat dome - keeps much of the continent in the grip of dangerously hot weather.
Daytime highs in central France may reach 39C (102F) Wednesday, according to forecaster Météo-France. That's down from a peak of 41.3C in Nimes on Tuesday, but still far above seasonal norms. The country has suffered searing heat since mid-June, and the top of the Eiffel Tower remains shut to visitors.
In Germany, the Upper Rhine Valley and the Kraichgau region could also reach 39C, according to forecaster Deutscher Wetterdienst. The extreme weather has triggered amber and yellow heat warnings across much of the rest of the continent.
Temperature readings may again topple records this summer as climate change drives up the intensity and frequency of heat waves, threatening the health of millions and stressing power systems. The hot weather increases energy demand for air-conditioning, and also threatens nuclear generation, with rising river temperatures curbing the means to cool reactors.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
That's a particular issue in France, which gets about two-thirds of its electricity from its atomic fleet. And in neighboring Switzerland, Axpo Holding AG shut a reactor at the Beznau plant on Tuesday due to the warming of the Aare River, Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor reported.
The heat is also hurting businesses. Shares in British bakery chain Greggs Plc plunged as much as 17% on Wednesday after it warned that high temperatures in June discouraged people from going out. Cows in the northern Italy region of Lombardy are reportedly producing 10% less milk on average compared with other times of the year, according to the Italian farmers organization Coldiretti.
While some parts of northwest and central Europe are set to get some relief in the coming days and into next week, models from the European Centre for Medium-Term Forecasts show high pressure and unusually warm temperatures returning to the continent by the middle of July.
However, calmer conditions will curb wind-power output, according to an analysis from MetDesk.
In Spain, temperatures are expected to exceed the long-term average for most of this month, data from Atmospheric G2 and Bloomberg show. In neighboring Portugal, the weather has already cooled, though several districts in the interior remain at the second-highest alert level.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
29 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
Texas flood witness recalls furniture, trees and RVs swept down river
Tonia Fucci, a Pennsylvania resident visiting her grandmother for the Independence Day weekend, woke early on Friday to the sound of heavy rain 'coming down in buckets'. Along with the rain, she heard something else — loud, startling cracking noises. 'It's indescribable, the sounds, of how loud they were, which turned out to be ... the massive cypress trees that came down along the river,' she told a Reuters reporter in an interview the next day. Flash floods in central Texas have killed at least 43 people, including 15 children, authorities said on Saturday as rescuers continued a frantic search for dozens more campers, vacationers and residents who were still missing. Hardest hit was Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old girls camp, where dozens of young girls were swept away in the flood waters, leaving many dead and many more still missing. Fucci, who was staying in Comfort on the banks of the overflowing Guadalupe River, filmed on her phone a torrent of muddy water flooding the road to her grandmother's house and two recreational vehicles in a parking lot, with their wheels submerged in water. Reuters verified the location of the video by matching buildings and vehicles to satellite imagery and confirmed the date by checking the metadata. 'I'm still in shock today,' Fucci told Reuters. She said she had little hope anyone would be found alive. 'There's so many missing children and missing people. You just want them to be found for the sake of the families. But, you know, it's not going to be a good ending ... There's no way people could have survived the swiftness of the water.' Fucci said she had received National Weather alerts on her phone hours after the flood had already hit. The residents of the town had to rely on one another, as they ran to their neighbours to see who needed help before rescue teams arrived. 'Something I've never seen before. You knew it was tragedy,' Fucci said, recalling how quickly the river flooded the town. 'It wasn't slowing, it wasn't slowing. And debris and furniture and RVs (camper vans) were coming down the river.'
IOL News
3 days ago
- IOL News
Europe's heatwave: temporary relief expected amid ongoing climate challenges
In this file picture people cool off at the beach during the heatwave in the south-eastern coastal town of Benidorm, Spain. Image: REUTERS/African News Agency (ANA) Europe continued to bake in an intense heat wave and cooler conditions in the coming days may bring only short-lived relief. Health authorities in France and Germany issued red alerts as a lingering high-pressure system - known as a heat dome - keeps much of the continent in the grip of dangerously hot weather. Daytime highs in central France may reach 39C (102F) Wednesday, according to forecaster Météo-France. That's down from a peak of 41.3C in Nimes on Tuesday, but still far above seasonal norms. The country has suffered searing heat since mid-June, and the top of the Eiffel Tower remains shut to visitors. In Germany, the Upper Rhine Valley and the Kraichgau region could also reach 39C, according to forecaster Deutscher Wetterdienst. The extreme weather has triggered amber and yellow heat warnings across much of the rest of the continent. Temperature readings may again topple records this summer as climate change drives up the intensity and frequency of heat waves, threatening the health of millions and stressing power systems. The hot weather increases energy demand for air-conditioning, and also threatens nuclear generation, with rising river temperatures curbing the means to cool reactors. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ That's a particular issue in France, which gets about two-thirds of its electricity from its atomic fleet. And in neighboring Switzerland, Axpo Holding AG shut a reactor at the Beznau plant on Tuesday due to the warming of the Aare River, Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor reported. The heat is also hurting businesses. Shares in British bakery chain Greggs Plc plunged as much as 17% on Wednesday after it warned that high temperatures in June discouraged people from going out. Cows in the northern Italy region of Lombardy are reportedly producing 10% less milk on average compared with other times of the year, according to the Italian farmers organization Coldiretti. While some parts of northwest and central Europe are set to get some relief in the coming days and into next week, models from the European Centre for Medium-Term Forecasts show high pressure and unusually warm temperatures returning to the continent by the middle of July. However, calmer conditions will curb wind-power output, according to an analysis from MetDesk. In Spain, temperatures are expected to exceed the long-term average for most of this month, data from Atmospheric G2 and Bloomberg show. In neighboring Portugal, the weather has already cooled, though several districts in the interior remain at the second-highest alert level.
TimesLIVE
6 days ago
- TimesLIVE
Heavy rain hits China's flood-stricken Guizhou for second time in a week
Heavy rain struck China's southwestern Guizhou province again on Saturday, half-submerging the flood-stricken riverside city of Rongjiang for a second time in a week and prompting the evacuation of residents to higher ground. Located at the confluence of three rivers and home to 300,000 residents, Rongjiang was inundated last week by record downpours that left six dead and forced more than 80,000 people to flee their homes. The amount of rain that fell over 72-hours was double the city's average for June. In response to the new round of flooding, authorities raised the city's flood emergency response level to the highest level on Saturday. The benchmark hydrological station on one of the rivers estimated the peak water level would hit 253.5m at about 5pm, exceeding the safety threshold by 2m, state broadcaster CCTV said. Last week the peak water level reached 256.7m, the highest since 1954, the Guizhou provincial government said in a statement to Reuters on Friday, blaming 'the extreme climate' for the flooding. The floods in southwest China are set to hit local economies. Rongjiang was removed from the national poverty list in 2020. It saw an unexpected tourism boom after a local soccer league nicknamed 'Village Super League' became a social media sensation, attracting thousands of fans and tourists. On Tuesday last week, the soccer pitch was up to 7m under water. China has battled with summer floods for millennia, but some scientists said climate change is resulting in heavier and more frequent rain. Massive flooding could set off unforeseen 'black swan' events with dire consequences such as dam collapses, Chinese officials said. In southern China over the past two days, 13 major rivers in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Hainan were hit by storms and had risen above their warning levels, CCTV reported, quoting the ministry of water resources on Saturday.
