Europe Faces Intense Heat Wave as France Issues Red Alerts and Records Soar

A heat wave has grown stronger in Europe with France as its record heat and public security hub. Tuesday was among the hottest days in France and recorded a mercury reading of more than 40°C in most of the regions, with the French national meteorological service prolonging a red alert for risky heat. Its capital, Paris, is seeing its first red heat warning in five years, prompting half-school closure, cancellation of public events, and top Eiffel Tower closure to tourists.

National weather agency Meteo France guaranteed that the nation is at its maximum heat, and weather predictions show additional hot weather until Wednesday. The red alert allows the local government to suspend outdoor activities, ban the movement of certain vehicles, and lower speed limits to decrease pollution and prevent public health hazard. The Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, banned autos except for cars with pure fuel and lowered the speed limit in some zones by 20 km/h because of concentrated ozone.

About 1,350 French schools were to be closed either partially or wholly due to unhygienic conditions in classrooms. Teachers' reports indicated that excessive heat and poor ventilation were ill-making children. Health advisories from the authorities against the heat were given to people with special needs, the elderly, infants, and chronically ill people.

Similar harsher weather is being experienced in other parts of Europe as well. Portugal faced dropping temperatures after two days of red alerts, though inner areas are still under threat, with mercury probably rising to 40°C in town centres like Castel Branco, Beja, and Evora. A "roll cloud," which is a rare weather sight, was spotted off Portugal's coast on Monday. The extensive, pancake-shaped bank of cloud created high-speed blasts of air and darkening clouds that placed swimmers in a state of panic.

It peaked at a record 46°C over the south of Spain, a new national June record. It remains on course to experience record heat in the high 30s and mid-40s nationwide. Italy has issued 18 cities, including major ones like Rome, Milan, and Palermo, with red heat alert. The Adriatic coast and Montenegro are also at warning, and the Mediterranean is struggling to cope with sweltering heat and increasing wildfire threats.

Piedmont, northern Italy, also experienced flash floods that killed a 70-year-old man after sudden heavy rainfall. Local authorities said that unusual weather events were increasingly frequent and no longer considered unusual phenomena. Record 26.01°C temperature in June was also experienced by the Mediterranean Sea, reports EU monitoring authorities, which shows more extensive environmental changes taking place within the region.

In Turkey, 120 km/h winds were raging through forests in the west Turkish province of Izmir, forcing more than 50,000 citizens out of their houses. Firefighters were dispatched to fight the fires, as did Greece, struggling with its own war of giant fires after weeks of sweltering and hot weather.

These catastrophic weather events concur with scientific forecasts that human-induced global warming is making heat waves more intense to make them longer, more frequent, and regionally extensive. Rising global temperatures, shifting climate regimes, and recurring wild fires and floods are putting enormous pressure on infrastructure, emergency response systems, and public health infrastructure.

The governments in Europe were called upon to enhance emergency preparedness responses, increase heatwave legislation, and enhance public health awareness of guidelines. They are advised to drink enough fluids, minimize sun exposure, reduce outdoor activity at the hottest time of day, and provide cool shelters for the vulnerable groups.
Tourism and transport sectors have also been hit. Closure of summit of Eiffel Tower and cancellation of other public events suggest the growing hold of climatic factors on daily schedules and locations. The disturbances should continue if climatic conditions are not regulated and weather remains pleasant.
Researchers and health authorities are calling on governments and institutions to react to record heat waves with the same degree of urgency as they would other natural disasters. Heat waves are now officially defined as being of major public health risk, particularly in urban areas with heat increase boosted by the effects of urban canyon of concrete cities. Forest fire dangers are still high throughout southern Europe, with scores of Greek and Portuguese firefighters battling to contain uncontrolled fires.

With yet another sweltering summer in Europe, the crisis highlights the need for long-term climate adaptation and reduction planning. The majority of the world remains a long way from being sufficiently prepared for increasing weather extremes. Urban planning, infrastructure resilience, and energy transition increasingly form core parts of country climate action plans.

The repeated phenomenon of record temperatures and associated disasters is testing the urgency for collective international effort and prompt action in climate policy. Through reduction of emissions, afforestation, or investments in coolers and water infrastructure, states owe the responsibility of assisting in safeguarding human habitations and ecosystems from rising climate harm.

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP), Edited by Andrew Zinin