From Spain to Germany, Europe affected by a heat peak of historic precocity

While France experienced unprecedented temperatures for this time of year on Saturday June 18, and even broke some absolute temperature records with 42.9 ° C in Biarritz, several other European states experienced the same situation, in particular in the south of the continent.

In Spain, which has just gone through the hottest month of May since the beginning of the century, the heat wave caused violent fires. The most dramatic of them broke out in a mountain range in the northwest, near the border with Portugal, and has already destroyed 25,000 hectares. He was not under control this Sunday morning.

Water rationing in Italy

On the Italian side, while temperatures locally reached 35°C for several days in a row, the concern is focused on the production of farmers and breeders. The decline in milk production from cows would be around 10%, according to one of the country’s main agricultural associations. The heat forces the cattle to drink up to 140 liters of water a day, twice as much as normal, while several regions are affected by a major drought.

In the north of the country, crops are particularly threatened, so Lombardy is preparing to declare a state of emergency. Water rationing has already started in the Po plain, which is experiencing its strongest episode of drought in nearly seventy years. In this vast agricultural territory, some areas have not received precipitation for more than 110 days.

Germany and the Netherlands also affected

This heat wave, scorching over southern Europe, also affects Germany. On Saturday, temperatures of up to 36°C were recorded there, according to the German Meteorological Institute (DWD). The heat caused two fires, one of which ravaged 60 hectares in the Brandenburg region around Berlin before being brought under control.

Still in the north, in the Netherlands, Saturday was announced as the hottest day of the year, with temperatures also around 35°C. The Dutch meteorological agency was particularly concerned about the consequences of the heat on ” the elderly and vulnerable ».

Extreme events caused by climate change

For scientists, these extreme climatic events and their repetition are directly linked to global warming. In 2019, when France and the Netherlands experienced two exceptional heat events in June and July, the consortium of scientists World Weather Attribution showed in a study that the probability of recurrence of such events would have been once every thousand years if there had been no human influence on the climate.

The simultaneity of these heat waves in several countries is another element attesting to the link with global warming. By studying the climate in the Northern Hemisphere between May and July 2018, a study published by the journal Earth’s Future concluded that “22% of populated and agricultural areas” of this vast space had known “simultaneously extreme temperatures “. And to conclude: “It is almost certainthat these simultaneous heat events could not have occurred without human-induced climate change. » On Twitter, climatologist and author of the IPCC report Christophe Cassou responded to skeptics this Saturday: “There is a robust link between hot extremes and human influence. »