Heat in Europe

[Howardh]

Been reading that the record temperature in Mallorca has been broken today (44.8c) - not confirmed yet - and no doubt many other places too. Also sea temperatures appear to be breaking records around the Balearics, I note the beach forecast for Formentera is to have the sea over 30c; in my 40-odd years of following the forecasts I've never seen that before.

El Tiempo. Predicción playas: Playa de Llevant, Formentera - San Francisco Javier (Illes Balears) - Agencia Estatal de Meteorología - AEMET. Gobierno de España

El Tiempo. Predicción para las playas españolas: Playa de Llevant, Formentera - San Francisco Javier (Illes Balears)

www.aemet.es

Temperatura del agua (°C)	29 (Tues)	27 (Weds)	30 (Thurs)

Update: temperature hits 44.8ºC in Mallorca, heat wave could drag on into August

Holidays being cancelled at a loss. The intense heat is forecast to intensify in the next two days and could last into August.

www.majorcadailybulletin.com

Maximum temperatures hit 41ºC in Mallorca on Monday and it is proving hotter today and The Foreign Office has issued extreme weather warnings for Britons travelling to Italy, Spain or Greece, advising them to heed local advice but that they won't be compensated if they choose to cancel their trips and today the WHO upgraded its warning.

The heatwave engulfing the northern hemisphere is set to intensify this week, causing overnight temperatures to surge and leading to an increased risk of heart attacks and deaths, the World Meteorological Organization said today.

At this rate, the Mediterranean will be off limits in high summer, which is a time when they get the most tourist income + school hols in Europe.

If anyone is looking for somewhere cooler, try the coast of Portugal, 19-21c when I last looked, comparitively chilly!

Also, will the extreme heat cause speed limits/cancellations on their rail networks as we had here in the UK a few years ago?

 

[birchesgreen]

UK tourist association should be blitzing them with adverts to come up here and escape the heat!

 

[Howardh]

UK tourist association should be blitzing them with adverts to come up here and escape the heat!

Wouldn't surprise me if locals in the hot-spots chose the Atlantic coast (Portugal, N Spain, W France etc) for there hols to escape the oppressive heat. Really feel for anyone having to work in those conditions too.

 

[341o2]

Spain, Italy, and Greece are badly affected. The Acropolis has been closed during the hottest part of the day, and several wildfires have broken out in the vicinity of Athens, for example. Weather forecasters are divided as to how far north it will spread, some saying the UK could face a late Summer heatwave. It has been named Cerebrus, after the triple headed dog guarding the entrance to the Underworld

 

[VauxhallandI]

Quite why we need names for heatwaves I will never know

 

[BananaRepublic]

Quite why we need names for heatwaves I will never know

A result of mind blowing decisions, perhaps ?

(I'm showing my age there)



.

 

[PTR 444]

UK tourist association should be blitzing them with adverts to come up here and escape the heat!

I do think that within the next few years, climate change will make British summers warm enough that a proportion tourists who previously visited the Mediterranean will start flocking here, at the expense of those places which will become too hot to visit during the peak of summer. Whether that’s a good thing or not in the greater scheme of things is anybody’s guess.

 

[MP33]

I did hear a prediction a few years ago that the UK and Baltic resorts will be the only viable ones, for the reason that everywhere else will be too hot.

 

[Grecian 1998]

It'll probably mean new threads on Speculative Discussion suggesting the quadruple tracking of the Whitby line and the reopening of the Lyme Regis branch line to cater for all the new tourist demand.

 

[AM9]

I do think that within the next few years, climate change will make British summers warm enough that a proportion tourists who previously visited the Mediterranean will start flocking here, at the expense of those places which will become too hot to visit during the peak of summer. Whether that’s a good thing or not in the greater scheme of things is anybody’s guess.

Well at least it might reduce the volume of two hour CO2 producing flights to the Med. Of course people forget things like excessively hot days as soon as the next rainy day comes so they jump in their cars to wherever the sun's shing in the UK.

 

[Calthrop]

I did hear a prediction a few years ago that the UK and Baltic resorts will be the only viable ones, for the reason that everywhere else will be too hot.

One takes it that this potential bonanza would also be shared by Germany and Denmark's North Sea coasts; and Norway; maybe Iceland and the Faeroes would also get a look-in? Talk about, "who'd have thought it"...

 

[Magdalia]

It has been named Cerebrus, after the triple headed dog guarding the entrance to the Underworld

Quite why we need names for heatwaves I will never know

Hurricanes in the USA have been given names for a very long time.

More recently we have had names for storms here in the UK.

Having experienced 38C in 2019 and 39C in 2022 here in the Fens I think that named heatwaves is a sensible idea. Storms and heatwaves are comparable in terms of risks for health and property.

 

[ABB125]

I'll be going to the middle of Italy next week (literally the middle: near Todi), for two weeks. I think it would be fair to say that it will be an interesting experience! (Personally, I'm not a fan of "sun holidays", but hot weather I don't particularly mind by itself.)

 

[dangie]

....I think that named heatwaves is a sensible idea. Storms and heatwaves are comparable in terms of risks for health and property.

Reminds me of the Vicar of Dibley:
That was The Great Storm....'
'That wasn't the Great Storm..... that was a moderately windy night.....'

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Jul 2023 ==

Well at least it might reduce the volume of two hour CO2 producing flights to the Med....

It irks me a little when folks are criticised for taking a once/year European holiday, when there are many who use air transport like an everyday trip to the shops.

 

[brad465]

I don't know if Southern Europe will be a point of origin for this, but predicted climate refugee movements will likely choose the UK and other northern European countries should southern clims be too hot and/or uninhabitable for a sizable chunk of the year.

 

[PTR 444]

Well at least it might reduce the volume of two hour CO2 producing flights to the Med.

But by then it will be too late to actually reverse the climate crisis…

 

[yorksrob]

It'll probably mean new threads on Speculative Discussion suggesting the quadruple tracking of the Whitby line and the reopening of the Lyme Regis branch line to cater for all the new tourist demand.

Let's get it done in advance !

 

[AM9]

But by then it will be too late to actually reverse the climate crisis…

Probably, but in the speed and depth of the temperature rise, every little helps.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I really wish we wouldn’t call it a crisis either

There is nothing proven here it’s speculation and whilst taking some measures is a good idea I fear that the gravy train is ratcheting up the fear again like covid.

Lots of people telling other people where their line in the sand is and that’s the correct line whilst half of the ones telling you are making a fortune and the either half aren’t affected by the line in the sand anyway.

 

[WAB]

I really wish we wouldn’t call it a crisis either

There is nothing proven here it’s speculation and whilst taking some measures is a good idea I fear that the gravy train is ratcheting up the fear again like covid.

Lots of people telling other people where their line in the sand is and that’s the correct line whilst half of the ones telling you are making a fortune and the either half aren’t affected by the line in the sand anyway.

An increased frequency and intensity of prolonged heat not conducive to human health and survival which also causes wildfires and crops failures is certainly a crisis...

 

[Bantamzen]

I really wish we wouldn’t call it a crisis either

There is nothing proven here it’s speculation and whilst taking some measures is a good idea I fear that the gravy train is ratcheting up the fear again like covid.

Lots of people telling other people where their line in the sand is and that’s the correct line whilst half of the ones telling you are making a fortune and the either half aren’t affected by the line in the sand anyway.

Everything seems to be a crisis, emergency, warning or alert these days. Too hot? Crisis? Too cold? Emergency! Thunderstorms possible? Warning! Light drizzle this afternoon at about half 2? Alert!!

 

[MikeWM]

There is nothing proven here it’s speculation and whilst taking some measures is a good idea I fear that the gravy train is ratcheting up the fear again like covid.

The similarities in the media coverage are very notable- and once you see it, you can't unsee it.

 

[adc82140]

The part of France I'm in seems to be in the sweet spot between the extreme heat of the south and the unseasonably grotty weather of the UK- we have temperatures of about 25-28 degrees.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Has nobody else on here noticed that maps on TV weather forecasts seem to have unilaterally changed their colour palette?
There was a tweet doing the rounds earlier showing a forecast (in Germany) from 2017 using a green palette, and one from 2023 using a red palette... guess which one had the highest temperatures displayed.

I'm not denying that temperatures are getting warmer, but blatant propaganda like this is going to increase the levels of climate change scepticism.

 

[MikeWM]

Has nobody else on here noticed that maps on TV weather forecasts seem to have unilaterally changed their colour palette?
There was a tweet doing the rounds earlier showing a forecast (in Germany) from 2017 using a green palette, and one from 2023 using a red palette... guess which one had the highest temperatures displayed.

I've certainly noticed. These maps now have the south-east of England in deep red when it is in the low 20s, which is ludicrous.

But it is certainly the case that Sky News, for one, are openly working with the government 'nudge' unit, which we should all be familiar with after the covid years, to try to change behaviour.

https://lauradodsworth.substack.com/p/the-news-is-being-nudged

Sky announced this week that behaviour change on climate can be driven by TV. It released a video which opened with the lines, “We cannot understate the urgency. But faced with issues of such enormity, what role can we play?”

It’s not actually a question, they have already decided their role. Sky announced that it was collaborating with the “independent Behavioural Insights Team”.

I'm not denying that temperatures are getting warmer, but blatant propaganda like this is going to increase the levels of climate change scepticism.

After covid, I'm sceptical of anything that is a scientific 'consensus' based largely on modeling, where this sort of government-media-scientist self-reinforcing circle is trying to 'nudge' us to change behaviour, where the apparent changes we 'need' to make in order to deal with the issue will make our own lives considerably poorer even though there is very little evidence they'll have any effect, and that 'coincidentally' gives the state significantly more power to monitor, control and micro-manage our lives.

There's a lot of people, like myself, who rather accepted this sort of thing on trust before 2020. I've never trusted government and haven't trusted media for decades, but I did generally believe scientists were telling the truth. After the rubbish they came out with during covid, and we saw that the way that they formed a 'consensus' was to de-platform, ban and/or ridicule dissenting voices (who largely turned out to be correct), I think it unwise to take such things on trust anymore and instead try to examine what is going on as much as possible individually.

None of which isn't to say there isn't warming happening or that humans are responsible for at least some proportion of it, because I think that is still very likely, but I do think we need to take a more critical look at the claims being made and the ways we are being manipulated, and as ever ask cui bono?

 

[Howardh]

The heatwave has moved eastwards as Spain's temps return to more "normal" temps. There are some hotspots, eg Malaga and Mercia @ 37c looking at the windy.com map, but the highs of 43-44c interior have dropped to the high thirties as the winds come from the west.

Looking at the west coast of Portugal, positively chilly today at 20-21c!

 

[GusB]

I've certainly noticed. These maps now have the south-east of England in deep red when it is in the low 20s, which is ludicrous.

Where are you seeing maps that show deep red for temperatures in the low 20s? Having googled "BBC weather maps" and looked at image results, they don't seem to go red until temperatures are over 25.

Even so, I'm not sure why anyone has a problem with red colouring on weather maps when higher temperatures can cause significant problems for some people.

 

[MikeWM]

Where are you seeing maps that show deep red for temperatures in the low 20s? Having googled "BBC weather maps" and looked at image results, they don't seem to go red until temperatures are over 25.

Maybe not the best example, but the start of the video here, for example

https://news.sky.com/story/europe-h...er-most-popular-holiday-destinations-12922373

shows London at 23C in red. While I admit calling it 'deep' red is probably me exaggerating a bit, colouring red for 23C - and orange for 18C in Edinburgh! - is plain silly when that is spot-on long-term average for the time of year.

Even so, I'm not sure why anyone has a problem with red colouring on weather maps when higher temperatures can cause significant problems for some people.

Personally I detest heat, I'd be perfectly happy if it never got warmer than 15C or so all year around. But that said, no-one should have significant problems at 23C.

 

[GusB]

Maybe not the best example, but the start of the video here, for example

https://news.sky.com/story/europe-h...er-most-popular-holiday-destinations-12922373

shows London at 23C in red. While I admit calling it 'deep' red is probably me exaggerating a bit, colouring red for 23C - and orange for 18C in Edinburgh! - is plain silly when that is spot-on long-term average for the time of year.

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Personally I detest heat, I'd be perfectly happy if it never got warmer than 15C or so all year around. But that said, no-one should have significant problems at 23C.

I tend not to watch Sky News, so I wouldn't have noticed that, but I agree that red for 23 is a bit daft.

I wonder if the person who designed that map was Scottish. Orange for "taps aff" and red for "scorchio"!

 

[bleeder4]

This is a year in which El Nino is particularly active. It moves in multi-year cycles and right now it's at its peak. So that behaviour is wreaking havoc with the global jetstream and temperatures. This year was therefore always going to be a hot Summer but the effect becomes more pronounced in each of its active years, as it's enhanced by the corresponding general rise in global temperature. Another 30 years or so and I suspect the majority of the Middle East will be uninhabitable. There will be one of the biggest exoduses of humanity the world has ever seen, as millions of people leave the equatorial and desert areas to settle in cooler climes.