Climate: Intense heat waves expected in France and Western Europe
It will be hot in France and Western Europe since a heat wave exceptional in its magnitude and earliness is expected by the end of the week with temperatures sometimes approaching 40 degrees Celsius.
Beatrice Andre
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
It will be hot in France and Western Europe, a heat wave exceptional in its magnitude and earliness is expected by the end of the week with temperatures sometimes approaching 40 degrees Celsius.
A phenomenon that is already affecting North Africa and which will therefore go up to the north.
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“
It is already very hot in North Africa, in particular in Morocco, in Spain with temperatures that regularly exceed 40 degrees,
explains Frédéric Nathan, forecaster at Météo France.
Then afterwards, this hot air -
indeed
- spreads mainly over France.
Northern Italy should also have fairly high temperatures, but not as marked as ours.
»
For the forecaster, it is practically unheard of, such hot air over the whole country at this time of the year.
He believes that everything is converging so that we can attribute this to
global warming
since for a few years now there have been increasingly early, increasingly late, increasingly intense heat waves as climatologists predicted. .
“
We can indeed attribute it to global warming, but it is not the only cause.
The primary cause of such a situation is the arrival of a very hot air mass coming from North Africa, that is the primary cause.
But, in an identical situation, a few decades ago, we would not have had such high temperatures.
»
►
To read: 2021 among the hottest years on record
In Spain, climate refuges as a solution
The heat wave is also affecting Spain, which is more used to the heat, yet it must advance certain preventive measures such as the opening of "climate refuges" in Barcelona where the thermometer exceeds 30º these days.
These "climate refuges" are set up in periods of high heat and this year these municipal spaces, where the people of Barcelona can go to spend a few hours to cool off, open exceptionally earlier than expected from this Monday, reports
our correspondent in Barcelona,
Élise Gazengel
.
For the deputy mayor, Eloi Badia, the climate emergency is also a health issue: "
These heat waves are one of the most visible effects of climate change, but it is also a subject that worries us because , according to figures from the Barcelona Health Agency, an estimated 150 deaths are directly or indirectly linked to these high temperatures each year.
»
More and more centers open longer
Schools, libraries, parks or even museums, a total of 200 cool spaces are available, i.e. a center less than 10 minutes from each inhabitant where they can sit down, drink and above all cool off.
A measure that has adapted over the years to increasingly hot summers, explains the elected official: “
When we started the climate refuges, we had few of them and they only opened during heat peaks and now we have many more centers and they are open all summer.
»
The peak is expected this Thursday in Barcelona where temperatures will not drop below 23º at night and the town hall is already studying how to activate these refuges earlier in the year in 2023.
►
To listen: Climate change: Europe in the face of drought
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