by The temperatures will rise up to 35 ° C in the last heat wave to meet parts of Great Britain.
So what does it cause and what are the effects?
– What causes the heat wave?
The United Kingdom is located on the edge of a “heat dome” that is currently sitting through continental Europe and has pressed the temperatures in places such as Spain, Italy and Greece to extreme heights.
Dr. Akshay Deoras from the University of Reading says that the heat dome, a high -pressure area that is currently centered in Denmark, with Great Britain on the western edge, “stable, mostly cloudless weather and draw in hot, dry air from the south”.
Dr. Michael Byrne, reader in climate science at the University of St. Andrews, said that heat occur when high -pressure weather systems that normally take a few days, “nothing new” for a week or more.
However, you and other scientists are clear that climate change – caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels – makes waves more frequently and intensely.
– So what role does climate change play in heat waves?
Simply put, the earth has heated up considerably since pre -industrial times, since people put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that catch more warmth.
If hot conditions occur on this background heat, for example during a situation of the heat dome, they are hotter than without them, while it also means that heat waves occur more often.
While Dr. Byrne says that warmth domes does not give anything new, “are the temperatures that deliver warmth: Europe is more than 2C warmer than in pre -industrial times. So if a heat dome occurs, it drives a hot wave,” he says.
Dr. Ben Clarke, research assistant in extreme weather and climate change at the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, says that the United Kingdom would still experience periods with fine, warm weather in June – but the hotter atmosphere means that the “fine” weather is now very hot.
“In short, climate change makes the ‘beautiful’ weather more dangerous and already dangerous weather fatal,” he warned.
– How do we know that climate change makes heat waves hotter and more often?
Scientists have carried out numerous “attribution studies” to evaluate the role of climate change in extreme weather such as heat waves and to compare the current conditions with what would have happened in a world without global warming.
For example, in the summer of 2022, when the temperatures were first beaten by the 40c brand in Great Britain, the scientists found that this would have been “almost impossible” without global warming.
Recently, the same global weather attribution group of scientists found that the Heatwave became about 2-4 ° C at the beginning of this month about 100 times more likely or due to global warming.
The MET Office analysis has determined that the type of 40 ° C temperatures observed in 2022 occurs a chance of 50:50 in the next 12 years, since the risk of extreme heat increases with climate change -with temperatures of 45 ° C in the UK.
– What are the effects of heat waves?
Scientists like Dr. Fredi Otto from the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial and one of the scientists who manage the World Weather attribution work characterize Heatwaves as a “silent murderer”.
“Every year, thousands of people in Europe die of extreme heat, especially those who live in poorly isolated houses, on busy, dirty roads, and who already have health problems,” she said.
Older or existing health states are particularly at risk: more than 1,000 excess deaths in older people were recorded at the four -day summit of the heat wave in July 2022 with more than 3,000 heat -related deaths in England this summer.
Heatwaves also lead to increased demands on ambulances and emergency services, have an impact on the functionality of hospitals, nursing homes and schools, met outdoors and the damage to agriculture, cause transport disorders, increase the risk of forest fires and are under pressure.
Experts also warn that extreme heat is associated with deterioration in the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress as well as with increased violence.
– So what can people do to protect themselves?
Experts propose a number of practical steps that people can take to protect themselves and others from the extreme heat this week.
This includes trying to keep the houses cool by closing windows and curtains during the day to keep the heat away and open them at night when it is cooler, drink a lot of non -alcoholic drinks, keep away from the sun, avoid movement and check older people.
According to Dr. Malcolm Mistry from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are also required to have municipalities, including environmentally friendly spaces, better quality accommodation, temporary cooling centers and even rescheduling on a large scale outside of the summer months.
Ultimately, however, the risk of extreme warmth will only deteriorate with continued climate change. Scientists warn the only way to contain global warming, in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero worldwide.
Professor James Dyke, Deputy Director of the Global System Institute at the University of Exeter, says: “These latest European heat waves are the result of record greenhouse gas emissions.
“Because of the climate change caused by humans, Europe is the fastest warmed continent.
“The only way to avoid even more extreme heat is to quickly get out of fossil fuels.”
