Health and safety are at risk in the U.K. and across Europe because of the high temperatures. There have been many fires in Spain, France, Portugal, and London. Two of the world's leading voices in the fight against climate change responded to the record-setting heat wave and fires in Europe. With temperature records being smashed in parts of the UK and France, the Swedish activist warned that the worst is yet to come. This is not “the new normal”. The climate crisis will continue to escalate and get worse as long as we stick our heads in the sand and prioritise profit and greed over people and planet. We are still sleepwalking towards the edge. https://t.co/BNp35yU8lS — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 19, 2022 The former vice president referred to comments made by the Spanish Prime Minister when he toured an area of his country dealing with devastating wildfires. Snchez said climate change kills. It's killing people, it's killing our flora and fauna. Gore said that unless humans take action to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the consequences of climate change will intensify. As Spanish PM @sanchezcastejon has said, "climate change kills." How many more records will be broken and communities engulfed in flames before we take the action needed to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis?https://t.co/zU7YjrcHUH
July 19th, 2022.
As of Tuesday, at least 1,350 people have died in Spain and Portugal due to the current heat wave, and experts say that figure is expected to rise over the coming days as extreme heat continues to broil places like the U.K.
Humans are changing the Earth's climate by burning fossil fuels, according to the majority of scientists. The greenhouse effect that has caused higher temperatures is due to the emissions from that activity. The rate of climate change has accelerated in recent decades, which has resulted in more intense heat events like the one that occurred in the Pacific Northwest last year.
Extreme heat events have happened in the Northern Hemisphere in the last decade. Pakistan, India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Spain, France and Russia have all experienced heat waves. After spring temperature records had already fallen in many states and cities, the US tied the record for the hottest June ever documented.
For the month of May in Austin, Texas, the combined high and low temperature is usually 78.6 degrees. A new record was set this year with an average temperature of 82.3F.
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that so far this year, record high temperatures have been much higher than record lows. The disparity of that ratio has increased.
Unusually hot summer days have become more common over the years. The EPA says that the occurrence of hot summer nights has increased at a faster rate.
The all-time highest daily minimum temperature was tied in Dallas on Monday.
Many people in Texas, Oklahoma and the Great Plains are still under a heat alert. A lot of the southern part of the country is at risk of having high temperature records broken.
If we don't transition away from fossil fuels, this is just the beginning of what's in store. The La Nia weather pattern currently in place tends to cause cooler-than-average summer weather in the western US, meaning other summers could soon be much hotter.
If there is a rock-solid consensus among climate scientists about what is causing global temperatures to rise, there is also growing agreement that researchers may have been too optimistic about how fast this disaster will unfold.
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