Europe is experiencing unprecedented heatwaves, breaking records and posing significant risks to life, with climate change identified as the primary driver, exacerbated by atmospheric conditions and potentially influenced by El Niño.
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I find it quite unbearable and I think
it is a sign of
big climate change. London is not city
that's meant to be hot.
>> Temperatures not only set to break June
records here, but could get [music] very
close to an all-time record as well.
>> Well, but even um now went to the shop,
there's like no water in the shops. It's
all like really hot.
>> The local paper Nice-Matin [music]
saying heat is coming for us.
>> El Niño is not just knocking on the
>> Red heat alerts indicating a potential
danger to life have been issued across
parts of the UK, France, Italy, and Spain.
Spain.
Over the next 10 minutes, we're going to
tell you how long these kinds of
temperatures will last, how dangerous it
could be, how to stay safe, and whether
El Niño is to blame. Well, straight to
our climate reporter Esme Squalid. And
Esme, tell us what is actually going on?
>> In this particular heatwave, what we've
got is effectively a static air of high
pressure, and it's just sitting over
Europe at the moment, and that's
trapping all the heat underneath. At the
same time, we're getting winds pulling
up hot air from northern Africa, which
is making it even hotter. And it might
even feel worse than normal heatwaves,
and that's because the humidity is so
high at the moment, which is making it
really hard to sweat. But it's worth
reminding people these types of frequent
heatwaves at these levels of
temperatures are just not normal, and
very much climate change is driving
these types of events.
>> Esme, back to you in just a second
because I want to talk to you about
these comments from the UN Secretary
General earlier today.
>> Climate disasters are becoming more
frequent, more destructive, and more costly.
costly.
And the World Meteorological
Organization has warned we ain't seen
nothing yet.
El Niño is not just knocking on the
door. It risks blowing the house down.
>> So, Esme, how much is El Niño to blame
for all of this?
>> Well, let's just recap on what El Nino
is. Effectively, it's a natural weather
phenomenon that we get every sort of 2
to 7 years. Effectively, what happens is
natural winds change their pattern and
we get a shift of hot water into the
central and eastern Pacific. But that
change, very far away from some people,
can change weather patterns all over the
world. Now, there isn't a strong link to
heat waves in this particular region of
northern Europe, but it does drive up
heat, particularly in Southeast Asia and
Australia, and we're going to be keeping
a close eye on how that might affect
them in the coming months.
>> And how much hotter could it actually get?
get?
>> Well, I mean, over this week, we're
expecting temperature records to fall
across Europe and within the UK. Not
just daytime temperatures, but also
nighttime temperatures, and that really
affects the ability of the body to cope
with this. But the Met Office, the UK
Met Office, has pointed out that we are
going to anticipate that these
temperatures for our summers will
continue to rise in the coming decades.
They think within the next 20 years, it
will be normal for us to get
temperatures in the early 40s for
repeated summers. So, climate change is
very much changing how summer can be for
people living in the UK and in Europe.
>> It really is. Esme, thank you. Some
parts of Spain have made entry to
swimming pools free for the duration of
the heat wave, with water fountains and
sprinklers also running uninterrupted
throughout the day to help people
actually cool down. Our correspondent,
Guy Hedgcock, sent this from Madrid.
>> It's very unusual to see very high temperatures
temperatures
up in the north of the country. We're
going to see temperatures of up to 40°
in the Basque Country in the north.
That's normally one of the coolest areas
of Spain.
So, that comes as a real shock for
people up there. Now, the Basque Country
is one of the areas
that is introducing special measures to
deal with the heat at the moment. For example,
example,
using these so-called heat refugees.
Now, that's public buildings like
churches or libraries or civic centers
which have air conditioning, and where
people can just go in at the hottest
parts of the day and sit down, have a
drink of water, and wait until the
hottest parts of the day has passed.
>> Well, that's Spain. Let's go to France.
They've recorded the hottest ever night
and June day since records began almost
80 years ago with more than half the
country in the maximum red alert zones.
Well, though there's also been a stark
reminder of the potential dangers of
trying to keep cool in the heat. Over 40
people have drowned in heatwave-related
deaths in the last 5 days in France with
officials warning against swimming in
unsupervised areas. Hugh Schofield is
our correspondent in Paris.
>> Yeah, there's really nowhere in the
country of France today that is escaping
this punishing
heatwave. Half of the country, more than
half the country is in the red alert
zone. That's the maximum alert zone for
for heatwaves, which means essentially that
that
there is a danger to to life from
excessive exposure to to the heat. A lot
of people are cooling off
in rivers, in
pools, at the seaside. That's bringing
with it its own set of problems. And
then there's this terribly distressing
story from the south of France on Monday
with two siblings aged two and four
getting stuck in the family car and
dying of of heat suffocation. So,
there's a real sense
in the country that this is very very
serious, that we we have to adapt and
essentially stay inside as much as
possible until it eases off, which won't
be till the end of the week.
>> Well, let's bring in Pierre-Antoine
Deny, who's our reporter in the south of
France. And Antoine,
the south of France is used to hot
>> Yeah, I mean, it's very it's it's quite
surreal in a way that is very early on
in the year. That's what people have
been telling me here. We are used to the
here in the south of France, but not to
that level and not that early on in the
year from people trying to get their end
of year exams to people working to
people in care home. Everyone's been
telling me this is not normal.
Obviously, being close to the seaside
like here, people have been able to cool
off, but there are more landlocked areas
of France, especially in this region
that have been suffering from
temperatures well above 40° and with the
record for the night at the hottest
night last night, then the weather
authorities here in France are saying
that it's much more records could fall,
including the fact that tonight could be
could be another hotter night here in
France. So, everyone's been bracing for
a very very warm night and evening here
in France, both in the south, but across
the country as well.
>> Pierre Antoine, thanks very much. So,
lots of questions on how to keep cool
and to keep safe. Let's bring in our
medical editor, Fergus Walsh. And
Fergus, I'd like to just rattle through
some of our most asked questions online
over the next couple of minutes,
starting with how does the body actually
respond to these extreme heat temperatures?
>> Yeah, Matthew. Well, a bit of physiology
here for you. Whether it's minus 10
outside or plus 40, your body wants to
keep an internal body temperature of
around 37° C.
And in extreme heat, it does this
initially by something called vasodilation.
vasodilation.
That means blood vessels near the
surface of the skin widen and that blood
flow, that heat is released. Now, that
causes the blood pressure to drop, which
can potentially be dangerous if you have
a heart condition, and it makes the
heart beat faster. Then, the sweat
glands come into play and water and salt
are released. They go to the surface and
they give off heat and energy and so
cool the skin, but that can be tricky in
humid conditions, which is what we have
at the moment, more difficult for that
to evaporate. Now, taken together, they
can lead, um, in extreme cases, to heat
exhaustion, where you can be sweating
heavily, have pale, clammy skin, be
dizzy or confused. Now, the advice there
from the NHS is very clear. If somebody
looks like they have heat exhaustion,
move them into the shade, um, remove any
excess clothing, give them water, and
cool down their skin. But, if they
haven't recovered within 30 minutes,
they may have heatstroke, and heatstroke
is a medical emergency. And the signs
there are that very high temperature,
the body's internal mechanism is not
working, um, they may no longer be
sweating, um, they may be, uh, fainting
or even, even vomit. And that can apply
in this red heat warning, not just to
those who are particularly vulnerable,
like babies, the elderly, if you're
pregnant or you have a heart or lung
condition, that can apply to anyone who
stays out in the heat too long.
>> You mentioned babies, there are a lot of
vulnerable groups, so what can people do
to keep babies safe in these sorts of conditions?
>> Well, one of the pieces of advice is,
you know, if if your baby's in a in a
pram or cot, don't cover it with a
blanket or a cover, use a parasol,
because otherwise the hot air gets
trapped. The thing about babies in
particular, and also to a certain extent
young children, is that their internal
uh, body clock, um,
their body temperature regulation, I
should say, um, which is controlled by
the hypothalamus, um, is not fully set
up yet. Um, and so they're much more
vulnerable, and of course with babies,
they can't move themselves into the
shade, so they're particularly
vulnerable. And obviously, they should
never, even for a second, be left alone
in a car, and that applies to to to
anyone in this hot weather. When it
comes to all of us, um, um if you're at
home and you don't have something like
air condition or fans, you should um
pull the curtains on the side of the
house that faces the sun. And then only
at night when it's potentially cooler,
open uh the curtains and the windows to
get some kind of current of air through.
And then obviously really simple,
obvious things but worth saying, you
know, uh stay out of the sun, uh stay in
the shade, um and stay hydrated, wear
loose-fitting um clothing uh with cotton
or linen fibers, um light colors, um and
keep an eye out for the vulnerable.
>> Fergus, thanks very much. Well, time's
up. That's all you need to know about
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