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Paris braces for heat as Europe scorched again

China Daily | Updated: 2019-07-24 07:23

Recent extreme weather forces attention on the issue of global climate change

PARIS - Parisians on Monday braced for potentially the hottest temperature in the French capital this week, as a new heat wave blasted into northern Europe. It could set records in several countries.

Temperatures surpassed 30 C on Monday in Paris, but the mercury could soar beyond 41 C on Thursday and topple a record dating back to 1947, according to the forecast of weather agency Meteo France.

The severe heat, which forecasters said would only last a few days but will be exceptionally intense, was also expected to affect parts of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

"It's likely that these three countries will see temperatures at or above 40 C for the first time," Francois Jobard, a forecaster from Meteo France.

The new blast of hot air comes less than a month after a heat wave scorched Europe at the end of June, forcing new attention on the issue of climate change.

"The heat wave that is too much," declared the headline in Le Parisien newspaper, highlighting that "Act II" of this summer's severe weather would further hurt production of crops from potatoes to grapes.

Jobard from Meteo France said that Thursday was shaping up to be "a potentially historically hot day".

"We are forecasting 41 or 42 C in Paris on Thursday and there is the strong chance of beating the record," he added.

The highest ever temperature recorded in Paris was 40.4 C in 1947. Since temperature records began in 1873, this was the only time a plus-40 C temperature was recorded in the French capital, he said.

Driving ban

With pollution climbing, only vehicles with a special clean-air certificate will be allowed into central Paris on Tuesday, the local authorities said.

Motorists who violate the rule must pay 68 euros ($76), while bus and truck drivers risk to be fined 135 euros.

Amid high levels of ozone pollution linked to rising temperatures, authorities ordered to cut speed limits by 20 km/h in Paris and Ilede-France. They also called on businesses that use polluting machinery to reduce operations, and avoid using solvent-based products, such as acetone, varnishes, glues or paints.

Britain will also see high temperatures, but will still be significantly cooler than countries on the continent.

Germany was already experiencing several forest fires and drying riverbeds while farmers fear another bad crop after last year's low yields, which were caused by an unusually hot summer.

The French government has warned that wine production will be down by between six to 13 percent over 2018, notably because of the ongoing heat wave.

Huge wildfires that have ravaged the mountainous Castelo Branco region of central Portugal and left 32 people injured have been "90 percent" controlled, firefighters said on Monday, but warned that strong winds could cause the flames to spread.

The new heat wave in northern Europe came as the United States also sweltered in extreme hot temperatures.

The New York City Triathlon, which had been scheduled for Sunday, was canceled for the first time since its founding in 2001.

Scientists are increasingly confident that man-made climate change is driving up the length and intensity of heat waves.

The three-day temperature peak from June 26-28 in France was 4 C hotter than an equally rare June heat wave would have been in 1900, the World Weather Attribution team said this month.

One study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology also said the deadly, weekslong heat wave across northern Europe in 2018 would have been statistically impossible without climate change.

France saw its highest ever temperature on June 28: 46 C in Verargues in the Herault department of southern France.

Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who highlighted the problem of global warming through school strikes, is due to visit the French parliament on Tuesday.

Agencies - Xinhua

Paris braces for heat as Europe scorched again

Paris braces for heat as Europe scorched again

(China Daily 07/24/2019 page11)

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