Europe is grappling with a record heatwave, and it's only June
Environment — di Valentina Neri
For much of Europe, June has been a month marked by record-breaking and unusually early heat. And the wildfire alarm is already sounding in Spain.
Europe is grappling with a record heatwave, and it's only June
For much of Europe, June has been a month marked by record-breaking and unusually early heat. And the wildfire alarm is already sounding in Spain.
- In mid-June, Europe is grappling with a record-breaking, prolonged and unusually early heatwave.
- France reached 40 degrees as early as 16 June. A peak of 42.9 degrees in Biarritz is yet to be confirmed.
- Spain is battling a vast wildfire, fanned by high temperatures and strong gusts of wind.
"I cannot believe it is only 19 June." With these words, prominent meteorologist Scott Duncan presents yet another map of the record heat sweeping across Europe in June 2022, with peaks of 39 degrees Celsius in Husinec (Czech Republic), 36.9 degrees in Gamprin (Liechtenstein), 36.9 in Beznau (Switzerland), 39.2 in Cottbus (Germany) and 38.3 in Słubice (Poland). These are temperatures that cannot simply be dismissed as "summery", being entirely anomalous before the summer solstice on 21 June.
France has never recorded such temperatures this early
The heatwave that has swept through France since Tuesday 14 June could be "the earliest on a national scale since records began", warned meteorologist Frédéric Nathan.
In Saint-Jean-de-Minervois, a small commune in Occitania, the mercury hit 40 degrees as early as 16 June: never before in the country's history had this threshold been crossed so soon. The previous record dated back to 21 June during the scorching summer of 2003, which went down in history for the record heat that raged for months across Europe, claiming thousands of lives (as many as 15,000 in France, and in the first 20 days of August alone). On 18 June, 42.9 degrees Celsius was recorded in Biarritz, on the Basque coast: if the figure is confirmed, it would exceed the highest temperature ever previously recorded in the city by a full 2 degrees.
BREAKING 🌡️
Intense and dangerous levels of heat in France 🇫🇷 smashes the all-time record in Biarritz by over 2°C.
The level of heat for this early in summer is unprecedented nationally, but is now beating all-time records in places.
Intense and dangerous levels of heat in France 🇫🇷 smashes the all-time record in Biarritz by over 2°C.
The level of heat for this early in summer is unprecedented nationally, but is now beating all-time records in places.
The national meteorological service, Météo-France, has counted 43 heatwaves lasting more than three days since 1947. Only nine occurred before 1989, meaning that over the past thirty years there have been three times as many as in the preceding 42 years. Climatologist Françoise Vimeux argues that the country's average temperature has risen by 2 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the twentieth century, compared with the global average of +1.1.
Authorities are at least trying to limit the health risks: in the Bordeaux region, outdoor public events scheduled for the weekend of 18–19 June were cancelled, as were those at indoor venues without air conditioning.
On top of the record heat, Spain is ravaged by wildfires
In Spain, too, one can speak of record heat in the fullest sense, as since 1981 there had never been a heatwave as early as that of mid-June 2022. On Sunday 19 June, a sharp drop in temperatures brought to an end eight days of extreme temperatures, day and night, across large parts of the country.
Temperatura media estimada en el promedio de la Comunitat Valenciana. Tanto hoy como el miércoles son unos de los días más cálidos en un mes de junio desde al menos 1950, sólo superados por el 28 y 29 de junio de 2012.
In the province of Valencia, the temperatures recorded on Wednesday 15 June and Friday 17 June were among the highest in the past seventy years. At the provincial capital's airport, an all-time record of 39 degrees Celsius was set, beating the previous one dating from 2017. Among the highest temperatures recorded across the country, however, was 44.2 degrees Celsius in Andújar, in Andalusia, on Friday 17 June.
The scorching heat, combined with strong gusts of wind, caused the wildfire that broke out on Wednesday 15 June near Zamora to reach dramatic proportions. The area affected is the sierra de la Culebra, a mountain range near the border with Portugal. The newspaper El País reports a perimeter of 67 kilometres and around 25,000 hectares affected by the flames. Around five hundred firefighters are deployed on the ground. By the morning of Sunday 19 June the situation appeared to have returned under control, and many displaced people were able to return to their homes. The fire, however, remains active.