By Paul Homewood
I’m a bit late posting this, but I did want to wait until the heatwave, nicknamed Lucifer had actually died down.
The heat seems to have peaked on Aug 4th, with temperatures up to 44C in Italy and Spain. However, these are well below the all-time records set in the 2003 heatwave of 47.0C and 47.3C respectively.
What does seem to be clear, looking at the historical data, is just how exceptional the 2003 event was. Climate scientists regularly warn us that similar heatwaves will become common in future, but there has so far been no sign at all that it was not just a one-off weather event. (Just as for instance the US summers of 1934 and 1936 were).
Of course, heatwaves in the south of Europe are nothing unusual, as a quick trawl through the Trove newspaper archives shows:
Of particular interest is the heatwave in 1949. It was noted that temperatures in Seville reached 111.1F , which is 44C, the same as recorded in Spain last week:
And the heatwave was not only limited to southern Europe, even the Arctic had one! Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, New York was also experiencing its own prolonged heatwave and drought.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
August 12, 2017 at 07:39AM
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