Temperatures hit new highs as a heatwave scorched parts of the northern hemisphere, sparking health warnings and sparking wildfires in the latest stark reminder of the effects of global warming, reports RTE.
From North America to Europe and Asia, people have been sipping water and seeking shelter from the scorching heat, and mercury is set to reach new highs in several places over the next few days.
Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, was braced for the highest temperatures this week in Italy’s Sicily and Sardinia, where a maximum of 48 degrees Celsius is forecast according to the European Space Agency.
“We’re from Texas and it’s really hot there, we thought we would escape the heat but it’s even hotter here,” Colman Peavy, 30, said as he sipped a capuccino at an outside terrasse in central Rome with his wife Ana at the start of a two-week Italian holiday, reports RTE.
With June already the world’s warmest on record according to data from the EU Weather Monitoring Service, Mother Nature doesn’t seem to be far behind in July.
China reported a new record in mid-July in the northwest of the country, where the temperature reached 52.2°C in the village of Sanbao in the Xinjiang region, breaking the previous record of 50.6°C set six years ago.
In Cyprus, where temperatures are expected to stay above 40 degrees Celsius until Thursday, a 90-year-old man died of heatstroke and three other elderly people were hospitalized, health officials said.
In Japan, heatstroke warnings have been issued for 32 of the country’s 47 prefectures, mostly in the central and southwestern regions.
“It’s honestly unbearable without a parasol, although I have to admit it is a bit embarrassing,” he told national broadcaster NHK of the umbrella in his hand, reports RTE.
In Europe, Italians have been warned to prepare for “the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time”, with the health ministry issuing a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence.
Temperatures in Rome tomorrow will be 42-43°C, beating the record of 40.5°C set in August 2007.
Nevertheless, popular tourist spots such as the Colosseum and the Vatican are crowded
“I’m from South Africa. We’re used to this heat,” said Jacob Vreunissen, 60, a civil engineer from Cape Town, reports RTE.
In northern India, at least 90 people have died as a result of heat followed by incessant monsoon rains.
Major floods and landslides are common in India during monsoons, but climate change is increasing their frequency and intensity, experts say.
Attributing a specific weather event to climate change can be difficult, but many scientists argue that global warming is behind the intensification of heatwaves, reports RTE.
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