A deadly heatwave sweeping across Europe has shattered temperature records in the eastern part of the continent, with Czechia and Slovakia recording their highest-ever temperatures, while Ukraine has been forced to impose emergency power outages to cope with the strain on its energy grid.
Slovakia recorded a high of 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday in the village of Turna nad Bodvou, southwest of the country's second-largest city, Kosice. Czechia reached 41.9C (107.42F) in Doksany in the country's northwest on Sunday evening, according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, which described the 1.5C margin over the previous record as "absolutely unprecedented" and noted the "exceptional" length of the heatwave.
In Hungary, temperatures hit 41.8C (107.24F) in the center of the country on Monday, just shy of its all-time record of 41.9C set in July 2007. Prime Minister Peter Magyar warned that "the two hardest days of the heatwave are coming," urging public sector workers to work remotely and encouraging other employers to follow suit.
At least 130 million people in central and Eastern Europe experienced temperatures exceeding 35C (95F) on Monday, according to AFP. In Italy, 22 cities were placed under red heat warnings, alongside several regions in Croatia, while the Balkans remain under extreme heat. Wildfires have been reported in Croatia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The heatwave, which began in Western Europe last week, is the most severe ever recorded on the continent. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded over 1,300 excess deaths since June 21. Although temperatures are easing in Western Europe, more heatwaves are expected throughout the summer, with a surge predicted from July 5 in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and parts of the UK, according to Italian Air Force meteorologist Daniele Mocio.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that "Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average," and described heat stress as a "silent killer" for which European infrastructure is ill-prepared. In Ukraine, emergency power outages were enforced as temperatures are forecast between 35-38C (95-100.4F).
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said the heatwave is "particularly remarkable given that June is not historically the hottest month in Western Europe," adding that "this summer shows that at 1.4°C of global warming, extreme heat is already reaching the limits of our societies' ability to cope."
Source: www.aljazeera.com