Record heat hit every continent north of the equator in June, raising fears about what July and August – usually the hottest months of the year – hold in Europe, North America and Asia. The blistering temperatures are another reminder of the human consequences of man-made climate change, which scientists agree already increases the frequency and severity of heat waves. They also start earlier in the year. In Japan, fears of power outages to keep air conditioners running are rising, with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida calling for an increase in nuclear power. Most of the country’s nuclear power plants were shut down after the March 2011 tsunami that caused the Fukushima nuclear accident. “The situation of electricity supply and demand is expected to be the worst in the last three days (this week),” an official from the Ministry of Industry told reporters. Tokyo recorded temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius on Wednesday for the fifth day in a row, the worst extreme heat event in the country in June since records began in 1875. Mercury is not expected to fall to 30 degrees until next week. Read more Fears of the French crop after the winter drought DAY hit by floods, landslides, fires that look like an “erupting volcano” Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 12:12 Because the heat waves are getting worse Around the world in record heat It comes as the British Met Office finds that climate change is reducing the chances of record temperatures in June in Western Europe, making it 10 times more likely in just 20 years. An unusually early and intense heatwave spread from North Africa through Europe before the summer solstice, bringing temperatures more characteristic than those observed later in the summer. In some parts of Spain and France, temperatures have reached 10 degrees Celsius above the season average. Almost all of Spain was in extreme danger of fire for days on end. Drought has also hit many parts of Europe. In Italy, the worst drought in 70 years has resulted in salt water from the Adriatic Sea flowing back into the slow river Pado, causing further damage to crops hit by a heat wave in early summer. “If there is no rain in the next 10 or 15 days, the crops that have not yet been lost will disappear,” said Giancarlo Mantovani, director of the Reclaiming the Po team, which is trying to protect the river. “We are gradually losing the harvest,” he warned. Meanwhile, in North America, on June 15, almost a third of the population was in some form of heat counseling. This was followed by a prolonged heat wave in March and April in India and Pakistan, which is estimated to be about 30 times more likely due to man-made climate change. Image: Most of Spain was at high risk of forest fire in early summer The “thermal island” phenomenon makes people vulnerable Excessive heat is deadly, especially for vulnerable people. City dwellers are sensitive to the urban “heat island” phenomenon, as the materials used in buildings absorb more heat. The heat can also aggravate air pollution and pose a threat to food security. But there are ways to deal with and adapt – one is to develop early warning systems for heat and action plans. Hundreds of local species losses have been caused by rising temperatures, as well as mass deaths on land and in the oceans. A new article in Reviews of Geophysics warns that hot and dry conditions conducive to fires are increasing under climate change, making landscapes more prone to burning more often and more severely. Watch the Daily Climate Show at 15:30 Monday through Friday on Sky News, the Sky News website and app, on YouTube and Twitter. The show explores how global warming is changing our landscape and highlighting solutions to the crisis.
