Western Europe Sets New Heat Record    08/10 06:31

   

   PARIS (AP) -- The U.K. and France are bracing for the fifth heat wave of the 
season, adding to an intense stretch of hot weather that has repeatedly sent 
temperatures soaring across Europe since May.

   National weather agency Mto-France is warning about temperatures 
approaching 40 C (104 F) from Tuesday onward in southeastern France. And in the 
U.K., an amber heat health alert for most of England will be in place beginning 
Tuesday as temperatures are forecast to climb to 36 C (96.8 F) later this week.

   Across Europe, the extreme heat began in May and has contributed to major 
wildfires, prolonged drought and new national temperature records, as well as 
thousands of projected heat-related deaths.

   Globally, so far this is the third-hottest year, behind 2024 and 2025, 
climate statistics show. But 2026 still has time to catch up. Thanks to the 
one-two punch of accelerated human-caused global warming and a supersized El 
Nio -- a periodic warming of parts of the Pacific that leads to temperature 
variations around the globe -- there's an increasing chance that by the end of 
the year, 2026 could become the hottest year on record, scientists said.

   Last month saw the highest average sea surface temperature ever recorded for 
July across the extrapolar oceans, or the oceans free of seasonal sea ice, 
according to the European climate agency Copernicus.

   That was partially fueled by developing El Nio conditions in the equatorial 
Pacific, the service said. The new average record for July is 20.96 degrees 
Celsius (69.73 degrees Fahrenheit), which beat the 2023 record of 20.89 C 
(69.60 F).

   But last month's average surface air temperature globally was 16.90 C (62.42 
F), making it only the joint second warmest July on record, tied with July 
2024, Copernicus reported.

   In Western Europe, meanwhile, the average temperature record for the 
June-July period hit 21.62 C (70.92 F), Copernicus said, toppling the 2022 
record.

   "Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the 
extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought. As soils dry out, they 
lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more 
readily," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European 
Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

   "This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat 
extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another."

   In France alone, heat wave alerts were issued for the first time on record 
in May, when more than half the country recorded new monthly temperature highs. 
The heat intensified in June, a period during which at least 5,700 more deaths 
than usual were recorded, according to France's public health agency.

   Mto-France said June 23 was the hottest day ever recorded in the country. 
Temperatures climbed as high as 44.3 C (111.7 F) in the southwest.

   Two other heat wave episodes were recorded in July, amplifying a historic 
wildfire in southwestern France that forced 220,000 people to flee their homes 
in one of the continent's biggest evacuation efforts since World War II.

   Temperatures were slightly cooler in the U.K. on Monday but the country 
readied for its fifth heat wave in an exceptionally hot and dry summer, with 
half of England and all of Wales plunged into drought.

   The heat alert warns that significant impacts on health services, including 
a rise in deaths among older and vulnerable people, are likely.

   Two record-breaking heat waves in May and June led to more than 2,800 excess 
deaths linked to extreme temperatures.