Extreme heat: is the UK becoming a 40C country?
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What are the current temperature records being set in the UK?
This is The Guardian.
Temperatures across the world are once again breaking records. In the UK this week, we're expecting to have the hottest June day ever.
An intense heatwave will be developing this week affecting many parts of the UK and the UK Met Office has now issued a very rare red weather warning for extreme heat on Wednesday and Thursday.
All parts of Italy, France and Spain are facing heatwave conditions this weekend. Temperatures in northern and central regions are forecast to reach 40 plus degrees Celsius. France placed about a third of the country on red alert, banned drinking alcohol in public in some areas, and ordered 845 schools to close Monday.
And this extraordinary heat might be just the beginning of a sweltering year ahead.
How does the El Niño phenomenon relate to the current heatwave?
The latest El Niño climate event is coming our way, and some scientists have nicknamed it Godzilla. But why exactly is it so hot? Could El Niño make it even worse? And how can we adapt to this new normal? I'm The Guardian's science editor, Ian Sample, and this is Science Weekly. Ajit Naranjan, you're The Guardian's Europe Environment Correspondent. We're just heading into what is set to be an extreme heatwave across Europe. What are we likely to see?
What causes the extreme heat we're experiencing?
So the UK is set to come close to its all-time record of 40 degrees Celsius this week. So temperatures will likely go as high as kind of 38, 39 degrees C. Parts of France are expected to hit temperatures even as high as 42. Spain may even surpass that. Now, all of this is kind of quite striking, partly because, A, of just how hot northern Europe has really become. If you think about Spain and France, maybe you're more used to these sorts of temperatures. The UK really is just not. So I think the temperature record for June is just 35.6 degrees Celsius, which is a full two to three degrees lower than what we're about to see this week. Now, because it's so humid, scientists expect that this heat is going to feel even more oppressive than it otherwise would be.
Why are heatwaves becoming more frequent and intense?
And so that'll come with these... tropical nights and that's when the minimum temperatures don't drop below 20 degrees Celsius and that means you can't even properly recover from the stress of the day. What is behind this heat wave then? What's causing it? So the immediate cause of this is what's called a heat dome. So this massive area of high pressure, it's sitting over the UK and Western Europe and I saw one scientist describe it this morning as an atmospheric lid that's suppressing cloud formation and allowing this relentless sunshine to just bake the ground day after day after day. Now, why do these heat waves keep getting hotter?
Is the current heatwave in the UK linked to global climate changes?
Both I and probably every single climate scientist you ever speak to will sound like a broken record here. It is because we burn fossil fuels that spew gas that trap sunlight and heat the planet. So temperatures at a global average level have increased by about 1.3 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution, and they are predicted to just keep getting hotter and hotter.
Ajit, you've been writing about what some people are calling the Godzilla El Nino, this global climate phenomenon where temperatures in many parts of the world are pushed up alongside extreme events like droughts and rain. Is this the start of the El Nino?
So El Nino is just beginning to form in the Pacific Ocean. We're just seeing the first signs that meteorological agencies are calling it as El Nino. having returned after a few years without it. It is only expected to reach its full strength toward the end of the year and then last over into 2027.
What impacts do extreme heat events have on health?
So this heat wave is essentially unrelated to anything going on over there. But the projections are that it may well be a very strong one when it peaks. And the World Meteorological Organization has cautioned that it's still a bit too early to call the strength of it. So they've kind of thrown a little bit of cold water on the projections, calling it a super El Nino or Godzilla El Nino. But that is largely because the models that they're showing still show a fairly wide range of what could happen.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the current temperature records being set in the UK?
0:00–1:00
2
How does the El Niño phenomenon relate to the current heatwave?
1:00–1:43
3
What causes the extreme heat we're experiencing?
1:43–2:27
4
Why are heatwaves becoming more frequent and intense?
2:27–3:05
5
Is the current heatwave in the UK linked to global climate changes?
3:05–3:59
6
What impacts do extreme heat events have on health?
3:59–4:52
7
How can society prepare for future heatwaves?
4:52–5:49
8
What individual actions can help us cope with extreme heat?
5:49–14:37
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Science Weekly
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