40°C heatwaves may become norm in Europe

LONDON: Scorching “Lucifer” heatwaves above 40°C will become normal by the 2050s in southern Europe, scientists said yesterday, calling for preparedness to save lives.

Heatwaves like Lucifer, which fanned forest fires and damaged crops in Europe last month, are now at least four times more common than they were a century ago, said the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a coalition of international scientists.

“In the early 1900s, a summer like the one we just experienced would have been extremely rare,” said Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute senior researcher Geert Jan van Oldenborgh.

“Across southern Europe, there is now a one-in-10 chance of seeing a heatwave as hot as we saw this past summer every summer.”

Such weather will become typical in southern Europe by midcentury if greenhouse gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, according to climate model simulations by WWA, which assesses climate change’s influence on extreme weather.

World temperatures hit a record high for the third year in a row last year, scientists said in January.

The intensity of heatwaves in Europe had also increased by 1°C to 2°C since 1950, WWA said.

More than 35,000 people died during a European heatwave in 2003, and tens of thousands died in Russia during extreme heat in 2010. The threat is particularly severe in already sweltering places, from South Asia to the Gulf.

“It is critical that cities work with scientists and public health experts to develop heat action plans,” said Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences researcher Robert Vautard.

“Climate change is impacting communities right now and these plans save lives.”

Europe’s death toll from weather disasters, including heatwaves, wildfires and drought, could increase 50-fold by the end of the century, the Lancet Planetary Health journal said. Reuters Residents removing belongings from a collapsed building in Mexico City on Tuesday. (Inset) Family members awaiting new of a person trapped in the rubble.