In the first few days of the year alone, thousands of heat records have already been broken across Europe.
In some places on the mainland, it has been measured between 10 and 20 degrees higher than normal.
In Warsaw, the thermometer showed 18.9 degrees on Sunday, 4 degrees higher than what was ever measured in the Polish capital in January.
Records fall: – Almost unheard of
Bilbao, Spain, had 25.1 degrees, the same as the average temperature usually in July and more than 10 degrees above the normal average for January, according to BBC.
Other parts of Spain are also experiencing high temperatures, and in parts of Catalonia, including Barcelona, ​​restrictions on water use have been introduced.
New recordings
Record temperatures have also been recorded in the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Belarus in recent days, and record heat has also been measured in parts of Germany, France and Ukraine.
The new January record in Belarus is 16.4 degrees, about 4.5 degrees higher than what was ever measured in January.
Warns of snow chaos: – Consider leaving the car
In Switzerland too, the thermometer shows more than 20 degrees and there is exceptionally little snow in the ski resorts of the Alps this year.
The melting of glaciers in the Alps could ultimately threaten the water supply of several European countries, experts warn.
– Outstanding
Several climatologists and meteorologists react strongly to high temperatures in Europe.
– This is truly unprecedented in modern times, says Scottish meteorologist Scott Duncan Twitter.
Climate expert Maximiliano describes the temperatures as extreme at The Washington Post.
More winter and snow to come
– This is madness. It is the most extreme event ever observed in European climatology.
While northern Denmark sees temperatures above 12 degrees on Tuesday, it was around minus ten degrees in eastern Norway in Norway. Meteorologist Rasmus Benestad says post office that it is due to the movements of the jet stream.
Jet streams are a band of strong, narrow wind currents that circumnavigate the globe, 5-15 kilometers above sea level. The cold wind separates the cold Arctic air and the warm air further south. Wind direction is generally west to east.
– Unmatched
The UK, Ireland, France and Spain recently found 2022 to be the hottest year on record.
Meteorologist Alex Burkill explains to the newspaper The Guardian that one of the reasons for the high temperatures in Europe is due to a warm air mass coming from the west coast of Africa.
According to the meteorologist, the air mass moved towards northeast Europe from Portugal and Spain, with the help of high pressure over the Mediterranean
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– The extreme heat is almost, to be honest, completely unprecedented, Burkill told the newspaper.
Human-caused climate change is responsible for heat waves becoming more powerful, more frequent and longer lasting.
The average temperature around the world has increased by 1.1 degrees since pre-industrial times and, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), there is a 50% chance that it will exceed 1.5 degrees in the next five years. years.
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries around the world agreed to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees, compared to what was measured between 1850 and 1900.
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