Record temperatures are blanketing several European cities today. The AP writes:
One by one, heat records are being broken across Europe. On Thursday afternoon the Paris area hit 41.6 degrees Celsius (106.9 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the previous record of 40.4 C (104.8 F) set in 1947. Authorities said the temperature was still rising, as a result of hot, dry air coming from northern Africa that’s trapped between cold stormy systems.
The Netherlands and Belgium also reported new record heats and Britain is expected to do so later.
A major heatwave swept across the continent back in June, so to have another one, with even higher temperatures is concerning. The New York Times reports:
Nation after nation issued unusually dire health-related alerts for people wilting in the heat. Belgium issued its first code red since the weather warning system was put in place 20 years ago, and Germany placed the entire country under a heat warning.
In France, a record 80 administrative regions were put on orange alert, the second-highest level of warning, while a drought prompted the government to impose restrictions on water use in 73 regions.
If that doesn’t sound normal, it’s because it’s not. And it will be hard for climate change deniers to talk their way out of this one. CBS writes:
One study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said the deadly, weeks-long heatwave across northern Europe in 2018 would have been statistically impossible without climate change.
CBS News contributing meteorologist Jeff Berardelli wrote in an article for Yale Climate Connections that heat waves are becoming more frequent around the world, and said there is convincing evidence suggesting a link to climate change.