THE intense heatwave hitting Europe is a “wake-up call” about the effects of climate change, one of the UK’s climate advisers has said.
Lord Deben, who has just left his role as chairman of the Climate Change Committee, said the UK can expect more hot weather later in the year.
The heatwave has seen temperatures hit 40C in popular destinations around the Mediterranean.
It comes as southern Europe braces for a second heat storm in the space of a week, with Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco ad other Mediterranean countries told that records could be broken on Tuesday.
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Lord Deben, former environment minister John Gummer, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme the situation was “largely climate change”.
He said: “It’s a bit worse because of the El Nino situation, but it would be very much like this even without El Nino.
“It is therefore a very serious wake-up call. It’s what the scientists said was going to happen.
“Unfortunately it looks as if it’s the top end of what they said.”
While the UK has not been badly affected by the Cerberus heatwave, Lord Deben (above) said it is “very likely we will have very hot weather later in the year”.
He pointed out that last month was the hottest June on record for the UK.
Lord Deben said governments around the UK needed to improve their efforts to reduce emissions and tackle climate change.
He was also asked about the Rosebank oil field and whether it should be approved, saying: “My own view and it’s very clear, is simply that we should not be extending our oil production in the North Sea, particularly oil production that’s not going to come on for the next five or six years.”
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Temperatures in southern Europe could be lifted above the record 48.8C (120F) seen in Sicily in August 2021.
The European Space Agency (ESA) said the heatwave, named Charon after the Greek mythological boatman who ferries souls to the underworld, could bring the hottest temperatures ever record in Europe.
Extreme weather around the world is being supercharged by the human-caused climate crisis, with a rise in climate-related disasters from heatwaves to floods and wildfires.
The World Meteorological Organisation said that in the first few days of July, the planet experienced the hottest days on record, following a June that was also the hottest on record, according to the ESA.
More than 60,000 people died because of last year's summer heatwaves in Europe, a study published recently in Nature Medicine said. Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal saw the highest mortality rates.
On Sunday, Italy saw exceptionally high humidity and temperature levels, described as a "heat storm" by the weather website ILMeteo.it.
With the arrival of another anticyclone on Monday, the mercury could hit highs of 47C in southern areas of Sardinia, and up to 45C or 46C in parts of Sicily and Puglia.
In Rome, temperatures are poised to climb to 42C or 43C on Tuesday.
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Rome, Florence, Bari, Cagliari, Bologna, and Palermo are among 16 Italian cities that have been put on "red alert" by the health ministry.
The alert means the heat is so intense that it poses a threat to the health of the entire population.
At night, temperatures remain above 20C, making it difficult for people to sleep.
Italy has been hit hard by climate change and is one of the most vulnerable European countries. In the past 13 months extreme weather events have been responsible for more than 50 deaths.
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