The latest weather updates as heatwaves and flooding cause disruption across the globe. Europe is bracing for a new anticyclone dubbed Charon, a heat dome is hanging over the US, China has recorded its highest ever temperature and bodies have been pulled from a tunnel in South Korea.
Haven’t heatwaves always happened?
While many of the areas currently experiencing extreme heat do typically have warm summers, there are warnings normal summer temperatures “are now a rarity.”
Italian meterologist Giulio Betti told the BBC: “Heatwaves did happen in the 1960s, but they were episodes that lasted maybe a few days per summer, often in the middle of summers that could be either warm or cool and rainy.”
He added: “In Italy, we have this perception that this year the month of June was pleasant and cool when it was actually the 11th hottest June since records began in the 19th Century.
“What has changed is our perception and we should be very concerned that we don’t get alternate cool and hot summers any more; they’re all hot, and they keep getting hotter.”
Saying European heatwaves have now become abnormal, he said: “This is a global problem that doesn’t have borders.”
Time running out to tackle climate change
The world is more likely than not to warm up by more than 1.5C before 2027, the World Meteorological Organisation warned in May.
It estimated a 66% chance – the first time in history the likelihood surpassed 50/50 within five years.
The 1.5C threshold is also set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, although that target refers to 30-year global averages.
The WMO expects temperatures to exceed the threshold temporarily – in a single year – but it warned this indicates humanity is likely on track to breach the international agreement.
It means the world has failed to make sufficient progress on cutting down climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Source: Sky News