40 grader i Madrid. Här förklaras varför Europa är sårbart för värmeböljor.
I rekord-värmeböljan 2003 dog mellan 30 000-70 000 personer. Här är vi inte vana vid höga temperaturer och skillnaden mot det normala är viktig. De flesta bor i städer som är varmare än omgivningen pga asfalt och betong.
Äldre, sjuka och utomhusarbetare är särskilt utsatta.
Forskare säger att värmeböljan 2018 har blivit 5 gånger vanligare. Och Europa är inte förberett på världen som är på väg.
Ett diagram för Frankrike visar att värmeböljorna har fördubblats sedan 1947.
104 degrees in Madrid: why Europe is so vulnerable to extreme heat
Public health officials are bracing for record heat this week.
…
Public health warnings have been issued in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. “The whole government is mobilized,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Monday.
…
Europe has a deadly history with heat
This week’s sweltering weather is concerning because there are several key factors that make people in Europe vulnerable to extreme heat.
These factors converged to a devastating effect in the summer of 2003, when a heat wave baked the continent with temperatures 13 degrees above the average normal for the region. The heat killed at least 30,000 people caused 13 billion Euros in financial damages. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 70,000. At the time, it was the hottest summer for Europe since the 16th century.
It was a wake-up call for the continent and starkly illustrated the hazards of extreme heat and what could be in store if nothing is done as the climate changes. Public health officials have long known that heat is one of the deadliest weather phenomena. While there is some debate over whether extreme highs are more dangerous than extreme lows, there are a number of mechanisms that make heat concerning.
High temperatures make it harder for the human body to shed heat, which can lead to dangerous conditions like heat exhaustion and heat stroke, as well as organ failure. But the biggest impacts of heat are indirect. It makes breathing more difficult. It worsens air quality. It stresses the circulatory system.
So heat turns out to be most dangerous for people with underlying illnesses and without access to adequate cooling. During the 2003 heat wave in Europe, the elderly comprised the largest share of the casualties, many with preexisting health conditions.
Europe is also not a region known for especially high temperatures, so many parts of the continent lack the resources to cope. Many buildings don’t have air conditioning and aren’t designed with passive cooling in mind. In Germany, as few as 2 percent of homes are air conditioned.
But it’s not necessarily how high temperatures rise that makes them so dangerous; it’s how different they are from what’s normal. That’s why heat waves can kill people in cool climates. People in sunny southern Spain can more readily cope with triple-digit temperatures but 90-degree days in cooler northern Germany can send people to the hospital.
…
Extreme heat is a vivid climate change signal
The length, intensity, and frequency of heat waves are on the rise, and Europe’s searing weather this week comports with what scientists expect as the climate changes, though it will take some time to tease out the specific extent of humanity’s role in the current wave.
…
Scientists reported last year that climate change has made heat waves similar to the 2018 heat wave in Europe five times more likely. Researchers also reported that 2018 was one of the hottest years ever.
The concern now is that Europe today may not be prepared for the world to come.
https://www.vox.com/world/2019/6/26/18744518/heat-wave-2019-europe-france-germany-spain