Europe braces for expected historic heat wave

Europe is bracing for what could be a historic heat wave this week, with temperatures potentially reaching at least 95 to 105 degrees.

The Washington Post reported that a record-breaking heat wave is expected to hit its peak midweek, with the region spanning from Spain to Poland possibly seeing temperatures surge at least 20 to 30 degrees above normal.

According to the paper, the continent could see actual temperatures jump to between 95 and 105 degrees, with some spots seeing hotter temperatures.{mosads}

Countries like France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Belgium will also likely be engulfed in the heat wave, CNN reported.

The heat wave is “unusually strong for so early in the summer,” according to Weather Underground.

Heat waves are said to be especially dangerous and deadly early in the summer season because people haven’t had time to adapt to the higher temperatures, Weather Underground notes.

Paris, for instance, is warning people with an orange alert — the second-highest level on its heat scale, which was established after a 2003 heat wave that officials blame for 15,000 deaths, according to The Associated Press.

This year’s heat wave comes after Europe saw record-breaking temperatures in 2018, which reached unprecedented levels in Sweden, Finland and Norway, according to CNN.

Europe’s hottest summers since 1500 were all in the 21st century — 2018, 2010, 2003, 2016 and 2002, according to Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at Potsdam University.

The hottest summers since 1500 AD in Europe were: 2018, 2010, 2003, 2016, 2002. Each summer gets one vertical line, the histogram (grey steps) shows how frequent summers were in each temperature interval. Updated from Barriopedro et al in Science: https://t.co/qDuGzTOSjN pic.twitter.com/HEFi91w5sg

— Stefan Rahmstorf (@rahmstorf) June 24, 2019

Rahmstorf called heat waves “silent killers.” 

Heat waves are silent killers. The 2003 European heat wave has caused about 70,000 fatalities, see https://t.co/48TOay2fXP Last year’s hot summer in Germany has been estimated to have caused at least 1,000 excess deaths.

— Stefan Rahmstorf (@rahmstorf) June 24, 2019 

Scientists believe these heat waves are at least twice as likely to occur because of climate change, according to a study from World Weather Attribution.