By: Austin Fang

Throughout this summer, Europe has been experiencing record-breaking temperatures due to blistering hot heat waves. Scientists have suspicions about how these boiling heat waves started, including global warming, jet streams, and ocean currents.

Recently, France has reached scorching temperatures in the triple digits, and they have had to heat waves in the last two months. Eastern European countries, such as Poland, have also hit high temperatures that they have never experienced before.

Global warming is one of the key reasons for this blistering heat wave. Temperatures currently are much hotter than the ones in the 1900s when the use of carbon wasn’t as widespread. Research by the New York Times states that every year the average temperature increases by 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 Celsius).

Jet streams are also a common cause of heat waves. According to Elise Cutts, a reporter on Voice of America, “Jet streams are currents of fast-moving air that loops around the northern hemisphere from west to east.” She also says that jet streams are more common today than before global warming.

If a jet stream splits into two more, it is known as a double jet. Double jets can slow down air, causing heat waves.

Throughout the summer, England and Wales have also both been suffering blistering hot temperatures. According to the New York Times, these heat waves were caused by “a region of upper-level low-pressure air.”

These low-pressure air regions draw hot air from one place to another, creating disparities in pressure. These low pressure zones have contributed to the heat in Europe, as hot air from North Africa has been being pumped to Europe.

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/climate/europe-heat-wave-science.html https://www.voanews.com/a/why-are-heat-waves-becoming-so-common-in-europe/6673184.html