Climate records fall as Europe bakes in heatwave

[webfact]

Climate records fall as Europe bakes in heatwave

 

Holidaymakers are seen on the South Beach,Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Britain. July 25, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Naden

 

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Soaring temperatures broke records in Germany, France, Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday, as a heatwave gripped Europe for the second time in a month in what scientists said were becoming more frequent events as the planet heats up.

 

As a cauldron of hot air from the Sahara desert moved across the continent, drawn northwards by high pressure, Paris saw its highest temperature since records began and Britain reported its hottest weather for the month of July.

 

An all-time high was measured in Germany for a second day running, at 41.5 degrees Celsius (106.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in the northwestern town of Lingen - similar temperatures to those in some Gulf Arab capitals on Thursday.

 

The unusual conditions brought a reduction in French and German nuclear power output, disrupted rail travel in parts of Britain and sent some Europeans, not habitual users of air conditioning in their homes, out to the shops in search of fans.

 

Health authorities issued warnings to the elderly, especially vulnerable to spikes in temperature. In cities, children splashed about in water fountains to cool off.

 

"It's very hot at the moment. I saw 42 degrees (Celsius) is forecast for today," said 19-year-old French tourist Ombeline Massot in the capital's Montmartre district, where visitors drank chilled bottles of water and fanned themselves.

 

The mercury in Paris touched 42.6 C (108.68 F) in mid-afternoon, above the previous Paris record of 40.4 C (104.72 F) recorded in July 1947.

 

In Britain, the temperature reached its highest for July, hitting 38.1 C (100.58 F), said the Met Office, the national weather service. The temperature, recorded in Cambridge, beat the previously July record of 36.7 C (98.06°F) in 2015.

 

This was the second highest temperature recorded in the country. The hottest day, in August 2003, saw 38.5 C (101.3 F).

 

In the southern Netherlands, the temperature peaked at 40.4 C (104.7 F), topping 40 C (104 F) for the first time on record, Dutch meteorology institute KNMI said. That broke the national record of 39.3 C set the previous day. Before this week, the national heat record of 38.6 C had stood for 75 years.

 

The heat is expected to persist until Friday.

 

GLOBAL WARMING

Climate specialists said such heatwaves are becoming more frequent as a result of global warming from greenhouse gas emissions.

Britons faced travel disruption, with trains being forced to slow down to prevent tracks buckling in the heat. Several train operators asked commuters not to travel or set off very early.

 

A Met Office study found that a heatwave like one that broke records last year was 30 times more likely to occur than in 1750, because of the high amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Since the pre-industrial period the Earth’s surface temperature has risen by 1 degree Celsius.

 

"There is a 40-50% chance that this will be the warmest July on record. This heatwave is exactly in line with climate change predictions," said Dr Karsten Haustein at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.

 

Peter Inness, senior research fellow at the University of Reading, said: "The fact that so many recent years have had very high summer temperatures both globally and across Europe is very much in line with what we expect from man-made global warming."

 

In northern Poland, toxic algae in the Baltic sea led to the closure of more than 15 beaches this summer, authorities said.

 

"The Baltic sea isn't the cleanest and when the temperatures are so high, then these organisms multiply at lightning speed and beaches need to be closed," said Jan Bondar, a spokesman for Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspectorate.

 

Very high temperatures across Europe coupled with prolonged dry weather has cut French nuclear power generation by around 5.2 gigawatts (GW) or 8%, French power grid operator RTE's data showed.

 

Electricity output was curtailed at six reactors by 0840 GMT on Thursday, while two other reactors were offline, data showed. High water temperatures and sluggish flows limit the ability to use river water to cool reactors.

 

In Germany, PreussenElektra, the nuclear unit of utility E.ON, said it would take its Grohnde reactor offline on Friday due to high temperatures in the Weser river.

 

(Reporting by Nina Chestney and Susanna Twidale in London, Richard Lough in Paris, Thomas Escritt in Germany, Alexandra Regida in Brussels and Bart Meijer in Amsterdam, Joanna Plucinska and Agnieszka Barteczko in Warsaw, Editing by William Maclean and Jon Boyle)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-26

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[bristolboy]

"Electricity output was curtailed at six reactors by 0840 GMT on Thursday, while two other reactors were offline, data showed. High water temperatures and sluggish flows limit the ability to use river water to cool reactors.

 

In Germany, PreussenElektra, the nuclear unit of utility E.ON, said it would take its Grohnde reactor offline on Friday due to high temperatures in the Weser river."

So, in addition to being very costly, nuclear power not quite so reliable as some would have us believe.

 

[rabas]

7 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

"Electricity output was curtailed at six reactors by 0840 GMT on Thursday, while two other reactors were offline, data showed. High water temperatures and sluggish flows limit the ability to use river water to cool reactors.

 

In Germany, PreussenElektra, the nuclear unit of utility E.ON, said it would take its Grohnde reactor offline on Friday due to high temperatures in the Weser river."

So, in addition to being very costly, nuclear power not quite so reliable as some would have us believe.

 

Only because of excessive use of fossil fuels leading to warming, it would seem. 

[soalbundy]

No need to travel very far then for sunshine, Southend is hotter than Thailand ????

[Tug]

Ahhh don’t worry Donald says it’s all fake lol 

[bristolboy]

12 minutes ago, rabas said:

Only because of excessive use of fossil fuels leading to warming, it would seem. 

The problem is, even if fossil fuel use were drastically reduced, the temperatures will keep on rising for decades.

[bristolboy]

Climate Scientists: Current Warming Is Not Part of Earth’s Natural Cycle

It has become increasingly difficult for climate change deniers to rationalize their position. They’ve gone from claiming that the globe isn’t warming to saying this is just part of a normal cycle. That position is just as wrong, according to climate scientists. A trio of new studies adds weight to that assessment, showing that the current rate of warming is “unparalleled” in the last 2,000 years. 

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/295564-climate-scientists-current-warming-trend-is-not-part-of-earths-natural-cycle

 

Modern Climate Change Is the Only Worldwide Warming Event of the Past 2,000 Years

New research finds that previous periods of warming and cooling driven by natural causes were regional shifts in temperature rather than global events

The authors of new studies in Nature and Nature Geoscience used evidence of ancient climates gathered around the world, from tree rings to coral reefs, to examine the pace and extent of well-known episodes of warming or cooling over the past 2,000 years. They report that events like the Little Ice Age and Mediaeval Warm Period, driven by natural variability, were actually more regional than global in scope.

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/modern-climate-change-only-worldwide-warming-event-past-2000-years-180972719/

 

Between 1300 and 1850, Europe and North America experienced what's known as the Little Ice Age; before that, the Medieval Warming Period brought slightly higher temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere from 800 to 1200.

But neither of those shifts came close to the level of climate change we're seeing now, new research shows.

[bristolboy]

Here's a very eloquent summary of what the latest research means:

"The familiar maxim that the climate is always changing is certainly true. But even when we push our perspective back to the earliest days of the Roman Empire, we cannot discern any event that is remotely equivalent — either in degree or extent — to the warming over the past few decades. Today’s climate stands apart in its torrid global synchrony."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02179-2

 

[canuckamuck]

 10,000 years ago Europe was covered in ice. Why can't just appreciate what warming has done for us?

[Pilotman]

Read the reports from the UK, traffic at a standstill, melting roads, railways not working, people not being able to sleep, or work because it's too hot, London tube trains unlivable with; maybe Thailand is not so inefficient after all.  I feel quite smug in my fully air conditioned house and my pool in the garden not 20 feet away. Good luck UK. 

[Pilotman]

13 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Here's a very eloquent summary of what the latest research means:

"The familiar maxim that the climate is always changing is certainly true. But even when we push our perspective back to the earliest days of the Roman Empire, we cannot discern any event that is remotely equivalent — either in degree or extent — to the warming over the past few decades. Today’s climate stands apart in its torrid global synchrony."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02179-2

 

There were no temperature readings available in Roman times, so we don't know. We can speculate, but speculation is often wrong and certainly not in any way scientific.  

[zydeco]

Hysteria. Temp popped up for a couple of days. It happens. Looking at today and the immediate forecast, Paris will be in 20s for highs and teens for lows. What a bunch of weenies. Probably only hit those highs for a couple hours, too.

[otherstuff1957]

20 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

There were no temperature readings available in Roman times, so we don't know. We can speculate, but speculation is often wrong and certainly not in any way scientific.  

Actually, while we don't know what the weather was like on a day to day basis, there are quite a few indicators that can tell us what the climate was like over the course of a century or, in some cases, a decade or even a year.

 

Tree rings are very good at recording rainfall and some temperature changes.

Isotopes in seashells can give us detailed records of water temperature changes.

Glacial ice cores can also tell us about changes in precipitation and temperature.

 

Beyond 2000 years ago, the data starts to get fuzzy, but we have a very good idea of how the climate has changed since the days of the Roman Empire.

[from the home of CC]

2 hours ago, zydeco said:

Hysteria. Temp popped up for a couple of days. It happens. Looking at today and the immediate forecast, Paris will be in 20s for highs and teens for lows. What a bunch of weenies. Probably only hit those highs for a couple hours, too.

exactly, looked at the forecast and it would require me to wear a jacket in a few days if I was over there. The end of the world indeed.. 

[zydeco]

At least we know now why Merkel was vibrating in public. It was climate and weather change. She was giving out indications of impending heat waves. Merkelmeter.

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Pilotman said:

There were no temperature readings available in Roman times, so we don't know. We can speculate, but speculation is often wrong and certainly not in any way scientific.  

There is definite evidence that the Romans grew grapes in the UK, Iron age villages being built on higher ground, and Vikings farming in Greenland, all which lead people to believe it was warmer in the past.

[faraday]

I expect those woke, entitled Extinction Rebellion 'terrorists' are jubilant.

 

[gunderhill]

4 hours ago, bristolboy said:

in the last 2,000 years

out  of 4.6  billion

[gunderhill]

Meanwhile last  month the news was spouting this https://electroverse.net/central-england-on-course-for-its-17th-coldest-june-in-360-years-of-records-crop-concerns-grand-solar-minimum/

[gunderhill]

25 minutes ago, Sujo said:

The UN commissioned over 1000 scientists over a number of years to study climate change and it was unanimous. I suggest you read their report, or take their word for it.

 

Bit somehow I think you will just think what you want to think contrary to all the evidence.

150 years  ago it could have asked the same question of the luminiferous  aether

[canuckamuck]

There are two things we can do. Cease all industry and hope that the 0.000220% difference in the atmospheric makeup that would create, somehow stabilizes the climate, despite it never having been stable before. 

The downside would be the agonizing deaths of at least 90 percent of the earth's population since we are not prepared to go back to pre-industrial tech. Most of Europe won't make it through a single winter because, what ya going to eat?

 

Or, we could do what we have always done, simply adapt to the changes while continuing to improve technology.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, canuckamuck said:

There are two things we can do. Cease all industry and hope that the 0.000220% difference in the atmospheric makeup that would create, somehow stabilizes the climate, despite it never having been stable before. 

The downside would be the agonizing deaths of at least 90 percent of the earth's population since we are not prepared to go back to pre-industrial tech. Most of Europe won't make it through a single winter because, what ya going to eat?

 

Or, we could do what we have always done, simply adapt to the changes while continuing to improve technology.

There's only 2 choices, huh? Really" You've looked at the IPCC report on keeping the increase down to 1.5 degrees centigrade, and that was their recommendation? Or was it some other science based report you read?

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, zydeco said:

Hysteria. Temp popped up for a couple of days. It happens. Looking at today and the immediate forecast, Paris will be in 20s for highs and teens for lows. What a bunch of weenies. Probably only hit those highs for a couple hours, too.

if it were an isolated freak incident, sure. But these events are going to be coming more and more And did you read that the Germans were painting their railroad tracks white in the hope of keeping the from deforming? And their roads that are melting?Nothing to worry about, huh?

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

There is definite evidence that the Romans grew grapes in the UK, Iron age villages being built on higher ground, and Vikings farming in Greenland, all which lead people to believe it was warmer in the past.

And as the report said, there were regional differences that persisted over a long time. But never in the past 2000 years has the atmosphere of the entire planet heated up at the same time.

[canuckamuck]

2 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

There's only 2 choices, huh? Really" You've looked at the IPCC report on keeping the increase down to 1.5 degrees centigrade, and that was their recommendation? Or was it some other science based report you read?

But that will do nothing. According to the IPCC the amount of CO2 we have put into the environment is already changing the temperature and many alarmists say we have only very few years to keep from going over some tipping point. So why bother with this magical (straight from the bottom of some IPCC policy grunt) 1.5 degree limit?  Do you really think they have got this number pegged, will it save us all. Will it force the earth to conform to our will. No chance, it's all or nothing.  Either destroy humanity, or just get on with life. that's all there is.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, Lenny Jones said:

Evidence of 5 separate ice ages and 5000 year old ice core samples from Antarctic just might tell you what you need to know - - Global climate oscillates - and has done so since before man stood upright.

 

They would tell me that climate changes. They would also tell me that in all that time the atmosphere and the oceans haven't heated up as rapidly as they are doing now. Do you understand the concept of rate of increase. Or is when you have savings account you don't care if the interest rate is 1% or 10% just so long as it increases?

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, gunderhill said:

Meanwhile last  month the news was spouting this https://electroverse.net/central-england-on-course-for-its-17th-coldest-june-in-360-years-of-records-crop-concerns-grand-solar-minimum/

I have no idea of the validity of that graph since it doesn't cite a scientific source for it. What I do know is that the Copernicus Climate group in Europe and NASA have both stated June 2019 was the warmest June on record. Globally speaking. I know some Little Englanders beieve that  what goes on in the rest of the world doesn't count. You one of them?

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, gunderhill said:

150 years  ago it could have asked the same question of the luminiferous  aether

Imagine what the world would be like if for the last 200 years  industry actually followed the lead of scientific research instead of rejecting it because of old beliefs like the "luminous aether". Lucky for us that never happened.

[BritManToo]

15 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

And as the report said, there were regional differences that persisted over a long time. But never in the past 2000 years has the atmosphere of the entire planet heated up at the same time.

It hasn't now.

Anyway tired of you, another ignore.

[spidermike007]

Climate warming, global warming, whatever you want to call it is man made, caused by our extreme recklessness and the degree to which we are degrading the atmosphere, the sea and the land. To think otherwise is either to be buying into a deflective hoax, done in the name of corporate culture, or simply to look the other way, and assume the planet is an awful lot bigger than it is, and can take any degree of abuse, and not reflect that back to us. 

 

The science is there for anyone to see it. The ice core samples date back 800,000 years. How does one question that? 

 

In 2004, drilling for the Epica Project unearthed a 3,200-metre-long ice core that was 800,000 years old. This ice fossil indicated the presence of a deep relationship between CO2 levels and global temperatures. “From these records we know that today’s greenhouse gas concentrations are much higher than anything that has been seen in the past 800,000 years,” said Prof Raimund Muscheler, chair of quaternary sciences at Lund University in Sweden. “This is a very important project because it will help us to better understand the workings of our climate.”

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/29/scientists-to-take-old-ice-samples-for-climate-research-east-antarctica