Latest news with #TemperatureRecords
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Climate
- Irish Times
Extreme heat breaks temperature records across Europe
Extreme heat is breaking temperature records across Europe , early measurements suggest, and driving bigger and stronger wildfires. In southwest France , records were broken on Monday in Angoulême, Bergerac, Bordeaux, Saint-Émilion and Saint-Girons. Météo France said the 'often remarkable, even unprecedented, maximum temperatures' in the region were 12 degrees above the norm for the past few decades. In Croatia, air temperature records were set in Šibenik, at 39.5 degrees, and Dubrovnik, at 38.9 degrees, while large forest fires raged along its coasts and ripped through neighbouring countries in the Balkans. Beyond Europe, dozens of temperature records were broken across Canada, and record-breaking heat above 50 degrees in Iraq was blamed for a nationwide power blackout. READ MORE The heatwave in southern Europe comes as Nordic countries recover from unprecedented temperatures above 30 degrees in the Arctic Circle this month. [ Temperatures of up to 27 degrees forecast as Met Éireann issues thunderstorm warning Opens in new window ] Bob Ward, a policy director at London-based Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: 'This summer, like every summer now, has been exceptional in terms of extreme heat around the world.' In Italy, where 16 of 27 major cities were placed under red heat alerts and a four-year-old boy died of heatstroke, and in Spain, where a man died in a wildfire , the high heat did not break a large number of records but still rang alarm bells. 'The main characteristic [of the heatwave] is the length and extent rather than the intensity,' said José Camacho, a climate scientist and spokesperson for Aemet, the Spanish weather agency. 'But the temperatures are still very high.' A wildfire near the village of Vilaza, in Ourense, northwestern Spain, on Tuesday. Photograph: Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty In the southwest of France, 40 per cent of a sample of weather stations recorded temperatures above 40 degrees on Monday. Lauriane Batté, a climate scientist at Météo France, said it was too soon to say if records were being 'shattered' rather than simply broken, but said the geographic extent of the heat was significant. 'Unfortunately, it's to be expected,' she said, adding that more than half of the 51 heatwaves in France since 1947 had occurred in the past 15 years. 'Clearly, it's a sign that the climate is warming.' [ Heatwave in Europe: Wildfires force evacuation of 6,000 in Spain Opens in new window ] The hot weather across Europe has dried out vegetation and allowed wildfires to spread further, in what scientists have described as a 'Molotov cocktail' of climatic conditions. EU fire scientists projected 'extreme to very extreme conditions' across the entire Continent this week, with 'particularly severe' risks in much of southern Europe and high anomalies expected in parts of the Nordics. Wildfires in Europe have burned more than 400,000 hectares so far this year, according to data published on Tuesday, which is 87 per cent more than the average for this time of year over the last two decades. High heat kills tens of thousands of people in Europe each year. Researchers estimate that dangerous temperatures in Europe will kill 8,000 to 80,000 more people a year by the end of the century as the lives lost to stronger heat outpace those saved from milder cold weather. Last week, the World Meteorological Organization said wildfires and poor air quality were compounding the negative health effects of extreme heat. It noted that temperatures during the first week of August reached more than 42 degrees in parts of west Asia, southern central Asia, most of North Africa, southern Pakistan, and the southwest US, with local areas exceeding 45 degrees. 'This is what climate change looks like,' Ward said. 'And it will only get worse.' – Guardian
Bloomberg
07-08-2025
- Climate
- Bloomberg
A Heat Dome Is About to Test Temperature Records in US Southwest
Extreme heat will sear down across Phoenix and the US Southwest this week, testing temperature records and putting about 7.5 million people under a sweltering high-pressure dome. Thursday is forecast to reach 117F (47C) in Phoenix, which would match the all-time high for August, according to the National Weather Service.
Irish Times
04-06-2025
- Climate
- Irish Times
Ireland weather: May recorded as being much warmer, drier and brighter than normal
May proved to be much warmer, drier and brighter than normal with some weather stations recording their sunniest months since records began and average temperatures climbing significantly higher than historical norms, provisional figures from Met Éireann suggest. Temperatures across Ireland in May were the sixth highest on record with the average of 12.54 degrees exceeding the 20th century norm by almost two degrees. The data is in line with a trend of consistent May warming with the top seven highest average temperatures for the month having been recorded since 2008. Blocking high pressure, positioned mostly to the north of Ireland, dominated for the first three weeks with Atlantic low pressure breaking through in the final week. READ MORE The abundant sunshine and slack easterly airflow intensified the marine heatwave off the south and west coasts that had been building through April. May was 1.85 degrees above the 20th century average for the month and 1.21 degrees above the long-term average for the most recent climatological reference period of 1991-2020. Mean temperatures were as much as 14.2 degrees at Shannon Airport , Co Clare – its warmest May on record – while the month's highest temperature was reported at Newport, Co Mayo , on Tuesday, May 13th, which had a temperature of 24.8 degrees. Average rainfall was measured at 56mm, representing 70 per cent of the month's long-term average from 1991-2020. That ranks the month as the 23rd driest May since 1941 and the fourth consecutive year to have below the long-term average rainfall for the month. A total of 20 weather stations across the country recorded climatological dry spells – periods of 15 or more consecutive days with less than 1.0mm of rainfall – from the end of April into May. [ Q&A: What should we do about multiple climate risks threatening Ireland? Opens in new window ] Monthly rainfall values ranged from 31 per cent at Roches Point, Co Cork , to 104 per cent at Finner, Co Donegal . Total hours of sunshine from all available locations were above the long-term average for 1991-2020, with two stations recording their highest ever monthly sunshine totals, and a couple of others their highest totals for May. Record levels of sunshine were recorded at Shannon and Cork airports with Shannon basking in 288.9 hours of sun and Cork recording 290.4 hours. Johnstown Castle in Wexford had 298.8 hours of sun while Gurteen in Co Tipperary recorded 267.2 hours – their sunniest Mays on record. Elsewhere, Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry had its sunniest May since May 1961.
