WEATHER The European Heatwave Thread week of July 26 though Early August

Melodi

Disaster Cat
OK guys, all jokes aside 108 degrees in Paris (yesterday) without AC and most of the UK airports shut down with thousands stranded, railroads and roads melting IS news.
Feel free to ignore the obligatory "climate change" lectures at the ends of most articles but understand this is turning into a real crisis all over Europe except a few edge places like where I live in Ireland - where we are 70 degrees instead of 60.

At least the headlines are starting to change to "all records since 1898" or whatever broken rather than just "all-time" since we don't have records going back more than about 200 years, 300 in a few places (but not always accurate daily recordings).

Please, feel free to add to this tread, both articles on live reports from those living or trying to travel over here.


Europe heatwave: Paris latest to break record with 42.6C [108.68]



Media captionParis registered an all-time high for the city: 42.4C degrees
Paris saw a record high temperature of 42.6C (108.7F) on Thursday, amid a heatwave that broke records across Western Europe.

A red alert - the highest level - was issued in northern France.

Meanwhile Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands also reached new record highs, of 41.8C, 41.5C, 40.8C and 40.7C respectively.

The UK recorded a record temperature for July of 38.1C, with trains told to run more slowly to stop rails buckling.


"Climate change has increased the likelihood and severity of heatwave episodes across Europe," the UK's national weather service said.

What temperatures was Europe expecting?
French authorities launched a red alert in the Paris region and 19 other districts and said temperatures were expected to reach 42C-43C in parts of the country.
al Meteorological Institute issued "code red" warnings across most of the country - urging people to take extra precautions during "extremely high temperatures".

What has been the impact?
In France, officials warned people to avoid travelling to work from home if possible. Some nurseries have been closed.

The chief architect responsible for restoring Notre-Dame warned that the extreme heat could lead to the cathedral's roof collapsing if the joints and masonry holding up the roof dried out.

French reports suggested five deaths may have resulted from the high temperatures.

Comparisons were drawn to a heatwave in August 2003 which contributed to almost 15,000 deaths in the country.

In parts of north Germany, rivers and lakes have dried up - with warnings that fish and mussels could be "severely threatened".

In the Netherlands, hundreds of pigs died earlier this week after a ventilator at a farm failed.

On Wednesday, a Eurostar train from Belgium to London broke down, trapping passengers.

Hasn't the summer already been hot?
Yes, an intense heatwave swept through areas of Europe last month, making it the hottest June on record.

France set an all-time high-temperature record of 46C, according to the WMO, and new June highs were set in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Andorra, Luxembourg, Poland and Germany.

Is climate change to blame?
While extreme weather events like heatwaves occur naturally, "research shows that with climate change they are likely to become more common, perhaps occurring as regularly as every other year", the UK's Met Office says.

Dr Peter Stott from the Met Office told BBC 5Live the latest heatwave is the result of both "weather and climate acting in concert.

"What we have at the moment is this very warm stream of air, coming up from northern Africa, bringing with it unusually warm weather," he said. "But without climate change we wouldn't have hit the peaks that we're hitting right now."


Media captionTemperatures are forecast to subside in the next few days
The Met Office conducted a study last year that found that the UK was now 30 times more likely to experience heatwaves compared to the year 1750, because of "the higher concentration of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere".

Records going back to the late 19th Century show that the average temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by about one degree since industrialisation.

A climatology institute in Potsdam, Germany, said Europe's five hottest summers since 1500 were all recorded in the 21st Century.

Scientists have expressed concern that rapid warming linked to use of fossil fuels has serious implications for the stability of the planet's climate.

Related Topics
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49108847
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
This one is part of an on-going (for pages)weather article at the UK Independent which just changed the headline from "Don't Travel" to "Flood Warning" as things cool off a bit - also there are spectacular photos of lighting, tornadoes, hail, etc from yesterday all over my facebook friends posts from the UK - the UK may get flooding and downpours, the rest of Europe is still baking.
UK weather – live: Flood warning issued as temperatures cool amid travel chaos
Follow our live coverage as rail and air passengers face more delays after record temperatures

Emma Snaith
4 minutes ago
10 comments

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The Independent

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Commuters are being warned to expect further travel disruption even as temperatures cool after the hottest July day on record.

Temperatures of up to 38.1C caused havoc on the rail network on Thursday, with thousands of passengers left stranded at major stations.

Rail companies feared train lines would buckle, but it was sagging overhead cables which led to problems.




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Meanwhile, the the Met Office has issued a severe weather alert over the weekend warning of potential flooding in north, northeast, northwest and southeast England.

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load:

KEY POINTS
Thousands of passengers disrupted as flights and trains cancelled due to extreme heat
Met Office issues severe weather warning of potential flooding over weekend
Train companies advise people to avoid travelling unless journey is essential
19 minutes ago
After the UK experienced its hottest July day ever on Thursday, there is a big drop in temperatures this afternoon.

The weather is expected to keep within the mid-20s to the low 30s range, the Met Office said.

emma.snaith
26 July 2019 12:46
42 minutes ago
Eurostar trains to Paris are being severely disrupted after a power failure at the Gare du Nord station.

The company's website said a cable had exploded and caught fire, meaning all power to platform six had to be shut down.

“Traffic to and from Paris is severely disrupted,” Eurostar said in a statement.

Eurostar services are also suffering delays due to speed restrictions imposed as a result of this week's heatwave. Hundreds of passengers were forced to leave a train in scorching heat when the train lost power on Thursday.​

emma.snaith
26 July 2019 12:23
50 minutes ago
As climate experts warn that record-breaking heatwaves will become the “new normal” in the UK, numerous workers will likely be wondering how they will cope with sweltering conditions in the office

So, how hot does it need to be before British workers should be sent home by their employers?

Read more here:


Can you legally leave work if it becomes too hot?
The IndependentTrade unions want maximum workplace temperature set at 30C
emma.snaith
26 July 2019 13:00
1 hour ago
The UK experienced its second-hottest day on record when the mercury hit 38.1C in Cambridge on Thursday, which also made it the hottest July day ever.

Across Europe, countries from Belgium to the Netherlands have experienced all-time highs this week with Langen in Germany reaching 42.6C.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...perature-rain-travel-met-office-a9021616.html
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Best seen at the link with charts and graphs that won't copy
All-time temperature records tumble again as heatwave sears Europe
Highs in Germany, Netherlands and Belgium exceeded for second time in 24 hours

Jon Henley Europe correspondent

@jonhenley
Fri 26 Jul 2019 00.01 BST First published on Thu 25 Jul 2019 11.08 BST
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A pharmacy thermometer displaying a temperature of 42.5C in Paris.
A pharmacy thermometer displaying a temperature of 42.5C in Paris. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images
Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded all-time national temperature highs for the second day running and Paris has had its hottest day ever as the second dangerous heatwave of the summer sears western Europe.

The extreme temperatures follow a similar heatwave last month that made it the hottest June on record. Scientists say the climate crisis is making summer heatwaves five times more likely and significantly more intense.

People cool off in and around a large water pool at Trocadero, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
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People cool off in and around a large water pool at Trocadero, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. Photograph: Owen Franken - Corbis/Getty Images
Wednesday’s Dutch record of 39.3C (102.7F), set in Eindhoven, lasted less than 24 hours, with the mercury at a weather station at the southern Gilze-Rijen airbase climbing on Thursday afternoon to 40.4C, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said.

After recording a new high of 40.2C at Angleur on Wednesday, Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI-RMI) said the temperature at Kleine Brogel near the Dutch border rose on Thursday to 40.6C. The previous records in both countries dated back to the 1940s.

“This is the highest recorded temperature for Belgium in history – since the beginning of measurements in 1833,” said the KMI-RMI’s Alex Dewalque. Britain also set a new temperature record for July and was on course to register an all-time high.


Climate crisis blamed as temperature records broken in three nations
Read more
Germany’s national DWD weather service said it measured 41.5C in the north-western town of Lingen on Thursday, the first time the temperature has been recorded above 41C in the country. It came a day after an all-time national high of 40.5C was recorded in Geilenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Météo-France said the mercury at its Paris-Montsouris station in the French capital surpassed the previous high of 40.4C, set in July 1947, soon after 1pm and continued to climb, reaching 42.6C soon after 4pm.

“And it could climb even higher,” the service said, noting that 43C in the shade “is the average maximum temperature in Baghdad, Iraq in July”. David Salas y Mélia, a climatologist, said the heatwave was one “of quite exceptional intensity”.

DWD said the mass of scorching air was hanging “like a bell” over an area stretching from the central Mediterranean to Scandinavia, squeezed between low-pressure zones over western Russia and the eastern Atlantic.


As authorities across the continent handed out free water to homeless people, placed hospitals and residential care institutions on high alert and opened municipal buildings to anyone seeking shade, trains were slowed in several countries to avoid damage to lines, which could buckle in the heat.


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France’s SNCF rail operator and the Métro in Paris advised travellers to postpone their trips if possible. “I ask everyone who can avoid or delay their journeys to do so,” the French environment minister, Élisabeth Borne, said. “When it is this hot it is not just people in a fragile state who can have health problems.”

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Germany’s Deutsche Bahn also said rail passengers who had booked tickets for Thursday or Friday and wanted to delay their trips because of the heat could do so until 4 August without extra charge.

With water restrictions in place in many areas, low river levels prompted officials to ban cruises on a 37-mile (60km) stretch of the River Danube in Germany. A zoo in Belgium said it was feeding frozen chickens to its tigers and watermelons encased in ice to its bears.

Météo-France said the conditions “require particular care, notably for vulnerable or exposed people”. The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said people “must take care of themselves but above all others, especially those who are alone”.

Major French cities including Lille, Rouen, Dijon and Strasbourg were also set to register new all-time highs, the service said, joining a dozen others – including Bordeaux – to have set records this week.

The government remains haunted by the heatwave of summer 2003, which led to 15,000 premature deaths, particularly of elderly people, and heavy criticism of authorities for not mobilising fast enough.

The peak of the latest heatwave is forecast on Thursday, with cooler weather and rain expected to provide relief from Friday. But in the meantime, 20 départements in northern France, 13 Italian cities and all of Belgium remained on red alert.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Andorra, Luxembourg, Poland and Germany all set new monthly records during last month’s European heatwave, while France recorded its highest ever temperature of 45.9C in the southern commune of Gallargues-le-Montueux.

A study published this year by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich said the 2018 summer heatwave across northern Europe would have been “statistically impossible” without climate change driven by human activity.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/europe-heatwave-paris-forecast-record-hottest-ever-day
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
From the Sky News constantly updated and pages long thread - trending now airport chaos gets worse, as radar breaks down - nearly EVERY major airport in England has thousands of people trapped for the second day (though some flights are now getting in and out thunderstorms could stop that) in this heat - Melodi
The heatwave hangover: Radar failure causing delays at Heathrow and Gatwick
Rail and flights services are being hit by delays and cancellations after the second hottest UK day ever.
LIVE

skynews-heathrow-airport_4728726.jpg

Crowds have formed at Heathrow where the Lemon Bucket Orchestra played for passengers stuck on the runway
Image:
Crowds have formed at Heathrow where the Lemon Bucket Orchestra played for passengers stuck on the runway



Why you can trust Sky News
Key Points:

Radar failure causing delays at Heathrow and Gatwick airports
Train companies urge passengers to only take essential journeys
Thunderstorms are sweeping through after the second hottest UK day ever
Share your pictures or stories - WhatsApp 07583 000853 or email news@sky.com.


12:41
Radar issue delaying flights at Heathrow and Gatwick

A Heathrow spokesperson said: "We are aware that NATS – the air traffic control service – is currently experiencing a technical issue with their systems that is affecting some airspace in the UK.

"Flights are currently arriving and departing at Heathrow, and we are supporting NATS to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We apologise to passengers for any disruption that occurs as a result."
A Gatwick spokesperson said: "Flights continue to arrive and depart from Gatwick however NATS - which controls UK airspace - currently has an issue with one of its radars and has put limits on the number of flights that can use Gatwick and other London airports.

"Passengers are advised to check the latest on their flight with their airline."

12:26
A technical problem is causing delays at Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport, National Air Traffic Services has confirmed.

NATS said in a statement: "We have a technical problem with a system at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre which is causing some flight restrictions.

"We are doing all we can to fix it as soon as possible.

"We apologise for any inconvenience people may be experiencing and will provide further information as soon as possible."



12:04
Workers can be seen making repairs on the line near Belsize tunnel between London St Pancras and Luton.

Damage to overhead wires is disrupting East Midlands trains on the London St Pancras, Nottingham and Sheffield routes.


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11:21
Eurostar passengers have been advised not to travel


Eurostar

@Eurostar
UPDATE: Due to an overhead power issue in Paris, our traffic to and from Paris is severely disrupted and we advise passengers not to travel and to rebook here - https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/disruption

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11:06


Most London flights have been delayed or cancelled today after thunderstorms followed record-breaking temperatures


10:48
Heatwave putting a strain on healthcare

Patients and staff will face "totally unbearable" conditions in hospitals after Britain sweltered in record-breaking temperatures.
Public health expert Dr Nick Scriven warned of struggles to keep patients and those working hydrated during the summer, with staff being "so busy they cannot leave wards to find cold drinks".
Dr Scriven, the president of the Society for Acute Medicine, wrote in the British Medical Journal that tired and overheated staff will be prevented from "giving their best".
He wrote: "We are now seeing temperatures even higher than in 2018, but hopefully lasting for a shorter period of time.
"However, the abilities of the NHS to protect both vulnerable patients and its own staff has remained unchanged.
"It is fair to say that the ward environments in many places will be totally unbearable this week, causing distress and concern for all those in them whether working, visiting or as patients.
"This follows reports which suggest that activity has peaked at levels previously not seen in summer."


10:39
Stranded flight passengers have been posting images of the the queues and crowding at Heathrow


https://news.sky.com/story/commuter...-disruption-during-heatwave-hangover-11770732
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
From the Irish National Broadcaster RTE, while Ireland enjoys lovely 70-degree weather and showers, or as Nightwolf said "if this is what 'Global Warming' does for Ireland, I'll take it" (he's kidding but he was just working in the garden)
Europe's record-high temperatures
Updated / Thursday, 25 Jul 2019 21:48
00126fed-800.jpg

Several peak temperature records have been broken in northern Europe in the latest heatwave but they remain lower than those in the south.

Here is a recap of Europe's record highs.



41.5C in Germany - July 2019
On 24 and 25 July, as Europe is hit by a second heatwave in less than a month, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands top their previous heat records.

The thermometer rises to a new high of 41.5C degrees in Lingen, northwestern Germany; 40.6C at the military base of Kleine-Brogel, in northeastern Belgium; and 40.4C in the southern Netherlands.

The heat is so intense in Amsterdam that the metal expands on some bridges and municipal workers sprinkle them with water to cool them.

Local television channel RTV Oost broadcasts images of snow-covered scenery to provide some relief.

46C in France - June 2019
On June 28, France bakes, the temperature hitting 46C in Verargues, a village in the south, smashing the previous national record of 44.1C in the Gard region in 2003.

There are wildfires and several buildings also burn, while fire forces a major motorway to close.


The July heatwave see Paris beats its own record, reaching 42.6C.

47.3C in Spain - 2017
On 13 July 2017, the mercury rises to 47.3C in the small town of Montoro near Cordoba in southern Spain. It is the highest temperature ever recorded in the country.

For a week, daytime temperatures remain above 40C.

Coping strategies include programming summer events such as the theatre and the circus late in the evening, with the town swimming pool staying open until two in the morning.

47.3C in Portugal -2003
On 1 August 2003 in the village of Amareleja, in southern Portugal, the temperature reaches 47.3C, a record for the country.

Europe is sweltering through a major heatwave which causes an estimated 70,000 deaths from June to September, of which 2,700 are in Portugal.

Amareleja is known as the hottest village in Portugal but had by 2005 not recorded a single heat-related death, its mayor tells AFP that year.

48C in Greece -1977
The thermometer hits 48C on 10 July, 1977 at Greece's Eleusis, several kilometres west of central Athens.

Trapped in a serious drought, the country experiences several wildfires, including in the Tatoi pine forest, the former estate of the royal family 15km north of the capital.

It is the record high in Europe, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

The agency lists the world record as 56.7C in Death Valley in California on 10 July, 1913, although this is disputed by some experts.
https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2019/0725/1065265-europes-record-high-temperatures/
 

Plain Jane

Just Plain Jane
There are social implications for all this heat as well. For those Europeans who are inland, the prospect of visiting the community pools may be a problem as there have been episodes of "youth gangs " wreaking havoc at the pools and shutting them down. There have also been increased assaults on police, firefighters, and medical personnel while these first responders are actually trying to do their jobs. That the extreme heat puts a damper on these disruptive activities is something that I doubt.
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Agree that Europe has little infrastructure to deal with this sort of thing. Heat OR cold and especially the poor slugs in the crowded cities are helpless. Folks get cranky and rude, stuff breaks down, and people have little/no tolerance or compassion for their fellows anymore.

Doesn't Europe just about shut down for the month of August? (Sorta like our overlords' lifestyle in D.C. ? ;) ) Everybody will be headed for the beaches if they can afford it. At least most people won't have the aggravation of working....except for the beleaguered "essential personnel" anyway.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
When I moved over here 25 years ago to get married, yes it was true that many continental countries did shut down for most of the month of August, the reasons were simple - with no Air Conditioning it was cheaper for any factory, shops, larger employer, etc, to shut down for three to five weeks than to keep calling ambulances for staff who collapsed from the heat - the factory/shop owners upstairs didn't like it much either.

Sweden used to partly shut down all Summer with most urban families owning "Summer Houses" that could be anything from a basic shack to an almost luxury retreat - but almost none of them were weatherized.

Families (wives and children) went for the entire Summer to escape the urban centers - also the diseases that the heat used to bring with it (that was some of the issues in the rest of Europe as well). Husbands joined them for the four weeks of vacation in August, we didn't realize just how far they shut down, then we encountered our supermarket closed (this was 25 years ago).

Then in 2003, the last big heatwave hit Northern Europe and 15,000 people are known to have died in France alone, most of the elderly people left behind while everyone else headed ot the beach.

These days, while most Europeans still get about a months vacation per year (and studies in places like Germany show that over-all production can go UP when employees get some time off) it tends to be more staggered.

Not everything shuts down in August anymore and besides, at the moment Southern Europe is too hot for anyone sane to want to vacation there in any case.

Hospital staff, First responders, police, fighter fighters, etc will be on staggered leave if they are on leave at all, many other businesses now work all year including August, though again those without air conditioning are the most likely to close or have limited hours because that is often still cheaper than upgrading the buildings and then paying the high energy costs for air conditioning would be.

At least so far, no mass numbers of the dead and dying are occurring as was happening in 2003; so while I'm sure there will be some deaths related to this heatwave, hopefully, Europe has learned its lesson on that score.

So, a lot of people these days DO have the aggravation of working (there was some fuss in the UK this morning over contradictory messages from different parts of the UK government who on the one hand we're telling workers to stay home and other outlets/agencies telling people to go to work if they could and employers probably somewhere in the middle.

For many people it was a moot point, with transportation in the UK nearly shut down in some areas, no one was going anywhere anyway.
 

Pinecone

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thanks for the updates, Melodi. Years ago we would hear about it on the news. Now, just a little blurb if we are lucky. That is horrendously hot, no matter where you are.
 
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