Europe is Experiencing an Unprecedented Heat Wave this Summer

By: Richard Huang

In the last two months, western European countries like France and

Spain experienced their hottest summer ever, and this month heat

waves also occurred in eastern European countries such as Poland.

Now, the increased temperature has caused many problems. In

France, a wildfire, covering roughly 60 square miles of dry pine

forest in southwestern France, forced over 30,000 people to

evacuate. About 1,700 French firefighters were sent to alleviate the

fire, a few of whom were slightly injured.

Marc Vermeulen, a fire chief in Gironde, told the reporters on

Monday that mitigating the wildfire is becoming increasingly

difficult as the temperature in Europe continues to rise.

“The fact that every afternoon the fire explodes and takes back all

the ground that we gained overnight or in the morning, that’s

grueling,” Mr. Vermeulen said. But, he added, “we are going to

hold.”

The heat waves also caused a drought in northern Italy. Farmers in

one of the most fertile regions of the country are struggling to deal

with climate change and its consequences.

“We know from studies on climate change that in recent decades, the

northern regions along the Alps have been increasingly dry during

the winters, rain has become scarcer even in the spring, while

temperatures are higher,” said Massimiliano Pasqui, a climate

change expert at Italy’s National Research Council. “This year, we

arrived at a situation where these three elements combined at the

same time to produce this extreme drought.”

In the U.K., the record-breaking temperature occurred in many of its

cities. At least 34 sites exceeded the country’s previous record of

38.7 degrees, the Met Office said.

The sweltering weather had brought people in the U.K. to cram into

local pools and beaches. “When people suffer from heat exhaustion

they take more risks, and there’s a lot of antisocial behavior that

comes with that,” said lifeguard Mr. Riley, who witnessed several

incidents during these days, including heat exhaustion and heat

stroke. He added, “There’s nothing wrong with using the seafront or

the beach on hot days, but when alcohol gets involved people lose

their sense of judgment and might swim beyond their ability.”

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