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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 20 July 2022
U.K. breaks record for highest temperature as Europe sizzles

By DANICA KIRKA and unusual such heat is in the ditional mounted troops of danger of death even for very common occurrence
JILL LAWLESS country better known for the Household Cavalry as healthy people. or remains relatively infre-
Associated Press rain and mild temperatures. they stood guard in central Such dangers could be quent is in our hands and
LONDON (AP) — Britain The intense heat since London in heavy ceremo- seen in Britain and across is determined by when
shattered its record for Monday has damaged the nial uniforms. The length of Europe. At least six people and at what global mean
highest temperature ever runway at London’s Luton the changing of the guard were reported to have temperature we reach net
registered Tuesday amid a airport, forcing it to shut for ceremony at Buckingham drowned while trying to zero.”
heat wave that has seared several hours, and warped Palace was shortened. The cool off in rivers, lakes and Extreme heat broiled oth-
swaths of Europe, as the a main road in eastern Eng- capital’s Hyde Park, nor- reservoirs across the U.K. er parts of Europe, too. In
U.K.’s national weather Paris, the thermometer in
forecaster said such highs the French capital’s oldest
are now a fact of life in a weather station – opened
country ill-prepared for in 1873 – topped 40 C (104
such extremes. F) for just the third time. The
The typically temperate 40.5 C (104.9 F) measured
nation was just the latest there by weather service
to be walloped by unusu- Meteo-France on Tues-
ally hot, dry weather that day was the station’s sec-
has triggered wildfires from ond-highest reading ever,
Portugal to the Balkans and topped only by a blistering
led to hundreds of heat- 42.6 C (108.7 F) in July 2019.
related deaths. Images Drought and heat waves
of flames racing toward tied to climate change
a French beach and Brit- have also made wildfires
ons sweltering even at the more common and harder
seaside have driven home to fight.
concerns about climate In the Gironde region of
change. southwestern France, fero-
The U.K. Met Office weath- cious wildfires continued
er agency registered a to spread through tinder-
provisional reading of 40.3 dry pines forests, frustrating
degrees Celsius (104.5 de- firefighting efforts by more
grees Fahrenheit) at Con- than 2,000 firefighters and
ingsby in eastern England water-bombing planes.
breaking the record set just Tens of thousands of peo-
hours earlier. Before Tues- A police officer givers water to a British soldier wearing a traditional bearskin hat, on guard duty ple have been evacuated
day, the highest tempera- outside Buckingham Palace, during hot weather in London, Monday, July 18, 2022. from homes and summer
ture recorded in Britain was Associated Press vacation spots since the
38.7 C (101.7 F), set in 2019. fires broke out July 12, Gi-
By later afternoon, 29 plac- ronde authorities said.
es in the UK had broken the land, leaving it looking like mally busy with walkers, In Spain and neighboring A smaller third fire broke
record. a “skatepark,” police said. was eerily quiet except for Portugal, hundreds of heat- out late Monday in the
As the nation watched with Major train stations were the long lines to take a dip related deaths have been Medoc wine region north
a combination of horror shut or near-empty Tues- in the Serpentine lake. reported in the heat wave. of Bordeaux, further taxing
and fascination, Met Of- day, as trains were can- “I’m going to my office be- Climate experts warn that resources. Five camping
fice chief scientist Stephen celed or ran at low speeds cause it is nice and cool,’’ global warming has in- sites went up in flames in
Belcher said such tem- out of concern rails could said geologist Tom Elliott, creased the frequency of the Atlantic coast beach
peratures in Britain were buckle. 31, after taking a swim. “I’m extreme weather events, zone where blazes raged
“virtually impossible” with- London faced what Mayor cycling around instead of with studies showing that around the Arcachon mari-
out human-driven climate Sadiq Khan called a “huge taking the Tube.’’ the likelihood of tempera- time basin famous for its
change. surge” in fires because of Ever the stalwart, Queen tures in the U.K. reaching oysters and resorts.
He warned that “we could the heat. The London Fire Elizabeth II carried on work- 40 C (104 F) is now 10 times In Greece, a large forest
see temperatures like this Brigade listed 10 major blaz- ing. The 96-year-old mon- higher than in the pre-in- fire broke out northeast of
every three years” without es it was fighting across the arch held a virtual audi- dustrial era. Athens, fanned by high
serious action on carbon city Tuesday, half of them ence with new U.S. ambas- The head of the U.N. winds. Fire Service officials
emissions. grass fires. Images showed sador Jane Hartley from the weather agency expressed said nine firefighting aircraft
The sweltering weather has several houses engulfed in safety of Windsor Castle. hope that the heat grip- and four helicopters were
disrupted travel, health flames as smoke billowed A huge chunk of England, ping Europe would serve as deployed to try to stop the
care and schools. Many from burning fields in Wen- from London in the south a “wake-up call” for gov- flames from reaching in-
homes, small businesses nington, a village on the to Manchester and Leeds ernments to do more on cli- habited areas on the slopes
and even public buildings, eastern outskirts of London. in the north, remained un- mate change. Other scien- of Mount Penteli, some 25
including hospitals, in Brit- Sales of fans at one retailer, der the country’s first “red” tists used the milestone mo- kilometers (16 miles) north-
ain don’t have air condi- Asda, increased by 1,300%. warning for extreme heat ment to underscore that it east of the capital. Smoke
tioning, a reflection of how Electric fans cooled the tra- Tuesday, meaning there is was time to act. from the fire blanketed part
“While still rare, 40C is now of the city’s skyline.
LIKE US ON a reality of British summers,” But weather forecasts of-
said Friederike Otto, Senior fered some consolation,
Lecturer in Climate Sci- with temperatures expect-
ence at Imperial College ed to ease along the Atlan-
London’s Grantham Insti- tic seaboard Tuesday and
tute for Climate Change. the possibility of rains rolling
Facebook.com/arubatoday/ “Whether it will become a in late in the day.q