Extreme heat has stifled Europe. The heatwave, which began in late June, has affected thousands of people across the continent, bringing record-breaking temperatures and unbearable conditions. So far, eight people, including a young child, have died due to the heat.
While mercury in Spain’s Huelva region touched 46 degrees Celsius — a new national record for June — temperatures in France rose to 40 degrees Celsius. The Health Ministry in Italy put 20 cities, including Rome and Milan, under the highest-level heat alert as it expected temperatures to reach 37 to 38 degrees Celsius. In Germany, more than 200 warnings regarding extreme heat were issued between June 30 and July 3. Central European countries such as Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia also issued top-level red alerts.
Soaring temperatures have also triggered wildfires in countries such as Turkey, Greece, Portugal, and Italy. Meanwhile, drought conditions have emerged in Central Europe.
None of these events come as a surprise for climate scientists, who have been raising alarm bells about the increase in warming of Europe for years. The situation is set to get worse, and experts are now calling for more action to stop tens of thousands of deaths due to extreme heat.
The fastest-warming continent
Europe is the fastest-warming continent as it is witnessing an average temperature rise of around 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade compared to 0.2 degrees Celsius globally. Last year, the global annual average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with the five-year running average currently above 1.3 degrees Celsius. However, temperatures in Europe in the past five years averaged around 2.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
One of the reasons behind the continent’s rapid warming is its proximity to the Arctic, which is by far the fastest-warming part of Earth. As a result, the region contributes to the soaring temperatures in Europe, making it more vulnerable to heatwaves.
Another reason could be feedback systems such as dried-out soil moisture. French climatologist Robert Vautard told Le Monde, “In continental regions such as Europe, high temperatures cause rapid warming of soils, with evapotranspiration, then drying out… This leads to positive feedback: Dried-out soils send more sensible heat back into the atmosphere, which warms up and further aggravates aridity.”
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Scientists suggest that changes in the behaviour of the jet stream — the rapid currents encircling the planet from west to east — could also be playing a role. Some studies have shown that Europe is becoming more vulnerable to something called the “double jet stream”, when a jet stream temporarily splits in two. This results in an area of weak winds and high-pressure air between the two branches that causes extreme heat. Double jet streams become more common when land mass heats up in early summer.
Need for adaptation
Marisol Yglesias Gonzalez, technical officer for climate change and health at the World Health Organization (WHO), recently said in a statement that in Europe, “[i]t’s no longer a question of if we will have a heatwave, but how many are we going to experience this year and how long will they last”.
The continent is already experiencing an increase in the frequency of heatwaves in recent years. According to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Europe Regional Climate Centre, Of the 30 most severe heatwaves to hit Europe between 1950 and 2023, 23 of them occurred since 2000.
This has led to thousands of deaths on the continent over the years. For instance, in 2023, Europe counted 47,690 excess deaths due to heat, a study, published in the journal Nature Medicine last year, revealed. This was the second-highest heat-related mortality burden since 2015, only surpassed by the year 2022 which saw more than 60,000 estimated deaths.
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Another study, published in January this year in the journal Nature Medicine, said the number of deaths would increase dramatically in Europe if countries did not prioritise climate adaptation soon enough.
Due to these reasons, the WHO last week highlighted the need to be prepared for heatwaves. However, European countries currently seem to be lagging on this front. A 2022 survey found that only 21 of the 57 countries in the WHO Europe region had a national heat-health action plan.
