People are silhouetted as they cool off in water fountains in a park, as hot summer temperatures hit Paris on Thursday (25/7/2019).
PARIS, FRIDAY — The heat wave that hit Europe reached an extreme point in the last two days. One by one, European countries broke the record for the highest temperature in history. Because of climate change, there are 10 times more heatwaves occurring now than there were 100 years ago.
In Indonesia, climate change triggers a hotter and drier dry season. According to a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report released on Friday, air temperatures in Europe have reached a record high, threatening the health of citizens and the environment.
Some scientists have warned that it could be a "the new normal" in the world, when air quality will be very bad. Since the pre-industrial era, temperatures have risen by around one degree Celsius.
In Paris, temperatures have reached 41.6 degrees Celsius, breaking the record of 40.4 degrees Celsius in 1947. French authorities have reminded residents that temperatures will rise due to dry and hot air from northern Africa.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said temperatures would be hotter than the heat wave in 2003 and could affect around 20 million French citizens.
In 2003, 15,000 people were killed in France, most of them elderly. French authorities instructed farmers in Oise not to harvest after hundreds of hectares of wheat fields were burned by a heat wave and a farmer was killed.
The Netherlands announced that temperatures reached 40.4 degrees Celsius on Thursday and Friday. For the first time, the temperature in this country exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. Something similar happened in England, Austria, Germany and Belgium. In Germany, the highest temperature is 41.5 degrees Celsius in the city of Lingen.
Disturb the train schedule
This condition disturbed schedules of a number of train departures. British authorities have requested that train speeds be lowered to prevent rail bending due to the hot air. In Germany, Switzerland and Austria, the community held a movement to paint the rail tracks white, with the hope that bright colors could lower temperatures.
REUTERS/PASCAL ROSSIGNOL
People cool off in the Trocadero fountains across from the Eiffel Tower in Paris as a new heatwave broke temperature records in France on Thursday (25/7/2019).
Messages appear everywhere advising people to drink more to prevent dehydration. Volunteers in London and Paris distributed drinking water to homeless people and opened a shelter center so they can take refuge and take a bath.
"Heat waves are evidence of human-caused climate change. That is consistent with scientific findings that heat waves will occur more frequently when the concentration of greenhouse gases rises so that global temperatures rise," said Johannes Cullmann, director of the WMO Department of Climate and Water.
Many studies have proved the link between climate change and heat waves. A study carried out by scientists from the World Weather Attribution concluded that heat waves in Europe are more intense due to climate change caused by humans.
According to the vice president of the Indonesian geophysics, climatology and oceanographic association, Siswanto, the heat waves in Europe are not expected to have an impact on Indonesia because the air circulation system is different and their wind does not flow to Indonesia.
Indonesia has a small chance of experiencing temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius. However, Siswanto, who is also the head of the climate information and air quality production at Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said that global climates were warmer and drier, including in Indonesia.
The temperature in Indonesia in the dry season this June was 1.25 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1981-2010 period, especially in Jakarta, Sumatra and Sulawesi. (AP/REUTERS/MYR/AIK)
