Europe heat wave breaks records, mercury set to go higher Mass. governor to seek disaster declaration for Cape Cod
Berlin — Europeans cooled off in public fountains Wednesday as a new heat wave spread across parts of the continent and was already breaking records.
Belgium and Germany registered their highest-ever temperatures, while the Netherlands saw its hottest day in 75 years.
And the mercury is expected to rise even further.
Paris and other parts of France could see temperatures exceeding 104 F on Thursday along with Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The heat is putting pressure on authorities to help protect the elderly and the sick. Air conditioning is not common at homes, offices, schools or hospitals in European cities.
The weather is also aggravating droughts since it hasn’t rained much in many parts of Europe this summer. The combination of heat, wind and possible lightning from thunderstorms also increases the risk of wildfires.
Why is it so hot?
The second likely-to-berecord-breaking heat wave in two months in Europe includes some of the same ingredients of the first — hot dry air coming from northern Africa. That hot air is trapped between cold stormy systems in the Atlantic and eastern Europe and forms “a little heat dome,” said Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist in the U.S.
This heat wave is a relatively short event where the heat comes with a southerly wind — and dust — from Africa’s Sahara Desert, in contrast to the big European heat waves of 2003 and 2010 which lasted much longer and were sustained by a stationary high pressure system with little wind, experts say.
At the end of June, several countries reported record temperatures, and France hit its all-time heat record: 114.8 F in the small southern town of Verargues.
Is climate change a cause?
Heat waves are happening more frequently in large parts of Europe, Asia and Australia, experts say. As the world warms, scientists say there will be more and hotter heat waves, but attributing single events to climate change involves precise computer modeling and calculations.
A team of European climate scientists did a quick, non-peer reviewed analysis of Europe’s June heat wave and found man-made warming made it at least five times more likely.
“Either of the two European heat waves this summer would have been remarkable in isolation. But now we are seeing multiple episodes of record heat in a given summer. By mid-century, we will simply call these episodes ‘summer’ — if we continue on this trajectory,” said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who wasn’t part of the European group.
The heat waves aren’t just because the world is 1 degree Celsius warmer than before the industrial era, but also because climate change and the melting of Arctic sea ice has slowed down the jet stream, which is the river of air that moves weather along, Mann said. The slow jet stream is “a big part of the story when it comes to these very persistent heat extremes we have seen in recent summers,” Mann said in an email.
How hot could it get?
Temperatures in France especially are likely to be 27 F higher than normal, with Paris likely to break its all-time hottest record mark of 104.7 F.
Belgium measured its highest temperature since records were first kept in 1833.
In sun-baked Kleine Brogel in northeastern Belgium, temperatures rose to 102.3 F, the highest ever Belgian temperature.
Harwich, Mass. — Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker says he’ll seek a federal disaster declaration to support cleanup and recovery efforts on Cape Cod after a tornado and high winds caused extensive damage and knocked out power to tens of thousands.
The Republican on Wednesday toured the area affected by Tuesday’s storms that ripped the roof off a hotel and downed trees and power lines.
Baker says it will take several days to collect information required to trigger federal aid. He said more resources are needed to clean up and restore power.
The National Weather Service also said Wednesday that two EF1 tornados with wind speeds of up to 110 mph touched down, one in Barnstable and Yarmouth, another in Harwich.