The country’s national meteorological institute, the Met Office, could hit the hottest temperature in UK history this Tuesday (19/7). Temperatures can reach 42°C – more than three degrees above the all-time high in 2019.
Unconfirmed data shows that the night between Monday and Tuesday was the hottest night ever recorded in the UK. The lowest temperatures recorded were 25°C, surpassing the previous record of 23.9°C recorded in August 1990.
Monday (18/7), the highest temperature in the UK was recorded in Suffolk, England: 38.1°C. This figure was just below the UK record of 38.7°C set in 2019.
Much of the UK is on high alert for the heat.
An extreme temperature warning has also been issued in France. Northern Spain recorded a temperature of 43°C on Monday. Forest fires have caused deaths in France, Portugal, Spain and Greece, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
Two people died in forest fires in the northwest region of Zamora, Spain, while trains in the region were interrupted by a fire that broke out near the rails. An elderly couple has died trying to escape from a fire in northern Portugal.
Global warming
Why is the temperature so extreme in Europe? Most climate scientists say the answer to this question is global warming.
The Met Office estimates that the likelihood of extreme heat in Europe has increased tenfold due to climate change.
Average world temperatures rose by just over 1°C in the 19th century, slightly above pre-industrial levels.
One degree may not seem like much. But according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s climate science body, this is the warmest period in history in the last 125,000 years.
Do you already know what’s behind it? Greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, which trap heat in our atmosphere. They contribute to raising the carbon dioxide concentration to the highest levels in 2 million years, according to the IPCC.
Image: GETTY IMAGES
So what about the weather?
The goal set by the UN is to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This can avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.
To do this, emissions need to peak by 2025, that is, in just two and a half years.
The International Energy Agency estimates that CO2 emissions from energy matrices will increase by 6% to 36.3 billion tonnes in 2021, the highest level ever.
According to the IPCC, emissions will need to fall by at least 43% by the end of this decade.
The world will have to reduce annual net emissions to zero by 2050. That means reducing greenhouse gases as much as possible and still finding ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
This is a tremendous challenge – many believe it is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.
Last year, world leaders made the promise at COP 26, an important UN conference in Scotland. If all the government’s promises were actually implemented, temperatures would still rise by about 2.4°C from pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
But even if we manage to reduce emissions to this ambitious 1.5°C target, summers will continue to be hotter in the UK.
“In a few decades, this summer [de 2022] It can be considered cold,” says climatologist Friederike Otto, a professor at Imperial College London in England.
According to Professor Nigel Arnell, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, also in England, we should expect increasingly longer heatwaves in the future.
Image: GETTY IMAGES
What are countries facing record temperatures like the UK doing? Few, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which advises the government on climate change.
A CCC report on Britain’s actions warns that the government’s current policies are unlikely to yield results. According to the text, the government has set many goals and implemented many policies, but cautioned that there is “little evidence” that the goals will be met.
And the country would not do enough to prepare for more frequent and intense heatwaves in the future.
According to the UK Health Safety Agency, heat waves caused an additional 2,000 deaths in 2020.
– Text originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-62219380
source: Noticias
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