A Summer Disaster in Europe – A huge heatwave struck Europe, many deaths in 2022.

By Shahmeen Noor, Thursday, 27 April, 2023, CPE Academy

Information Source: Copernicus EU, The Guardian & Self-written :]]]

In mid-July, an area of high pressure settled over western Europe. Combined with hot
air flow from North Africa ahead of a trough moving towards the northeast from west
of Portugal and the change of climate, which led to the occurrence of a huge heatwave
that struck Europe. This heatwave began on June 12 t h of 2022 and ended on September
12 t h of 2022. This heatwave affected everyone living all over the European continent.

This heatwave first struck Spain and Portugal before spreading further north and
east, towards France, United Kingdom, central Europe and Scandinavia. The Spanish
city of Seville reached 41°C during the first half of the month. Portugal reported a
heatwave in the first half of the month and a ‘heat burst ’, an exceptional sudden rise
in temperatures, later in the month. This relatively rare phenomenon was seen also in
southern France in mid-May and daily maximum temperatures in Spain, France, and
Italy reached above 40°C.

Heatwaves continued to take place over several regions of Europe during June.
Southwestern Europe, including parts of Spain, Italy and France, continued to
experience long spells of exceptionally high temperatures. Average temperatures then
fell rapidly in the region, although heatwave conditions developed further to the east
and north. Consequences of the heatwaves of 2022 have affected hundreds of millions
of people, with implications for health and wellbeing, agriculture and food supplies,
energy prices and demand, natural ecosystems, and river, air, rail and road transport.
More than 20,000 people died across western Europe in this summer ’s heatwaves, in
temperatures that would have been virtually impossible without climate breakdown.

Dr Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute

for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, said: “Heatwaves
are one of the biggest threats posed by climate change. High temperatures are
responsible for thousands of deaths across the world every year, many of which go
underreported. “Despite this overwhelming evidence, there is still little public
awareness of the dangers that extreme temperatures present to human health.”

And, Dr Eunice Lo, a research fellow in climate change and health at the University
of Bristol, said: “Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense as the globe
warms up, so we can expect more and hotter heatwaves in future. “Scientists have
linked many past heatwaves to human-induced climate change. This means that
observed heatwaves have been made more likely to occur or more intense because of
human emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Global heating is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, forest destruction and other
human activities. The International Energy Agency advised last year that no new gas,
oil or coal development could take place from this year onwards if the world was to
limit global heating to 1.5C. Lo said that there was also a need for society to adapt to
extreme heat. “We … need to adapt to heat in the long term. This includes designing
homes, schools and hospitals that have good ventilation and prevent overheating,
increasing green space and parks in cities, and making heat warnings accessible to all.”