Hot Summer for Europe Predicted
According to the UK’s Met Office weather forecasters it is expected that temperatures across Europe will be hotter than the average European summer temperatures. Forecasters also predicated the northern European countries could expect more rain this summer while countries in the south of Europe would see even less rain than normal.
Some parts of this prediction are already showing its face. Northern Europe has been experiencing heavy rainfall over the last couple of days, which has resulted in serious flooding in places, especially in the UK where the homes of thousands of people have been flooded.
In far southern Europe temperatures are soaring and have already resulted in some heat related deaths. In eastern Europe a total of 30 people died due to the heat in Albania, Serbia and Romania. In Greece there have been three reports of heat related deaths.
Greece has been seeing temperatures of 100F (38C) or more going as high as 106.88F (41.6C). Parts of Italy are even hotter with temperatures reaching 113F (45C) in the Italian town of Bari. In Italy the high temperatures have caused a number of wild fires to start in the far south mainland and on Sardinia and Sicily. As a precaution, in Turkey, to avoid wild fires people are now being prevented from going into the forest.
According to the Met Office weather forecasters these high temperatures will be regular occurrence this summer, higher than the average temperatures of the last 30 years.
In a press statement put out by the Met Office forecasters said, “Indications for the remainder of the summer favour average or drier than average conditions over central and southern Europe and wetter than average over parts of northern Europe.” This suggests that in the UK a trend towards average rainfall is more likely for southern regions, while average or above average rainfall is more likely in the north.”
Even though the forecasters are predicting a hot summer there shouldn’t be a repeat of the horrific 2003 heat wave, which resulted in thousands of people dying around Europe.
Because of the increasingly warmer than average summers, weather forecasters in Europe have had to reconsider how they look at temperature averages. Instead of using information from the last 15 years forecasters are now using information using the average temperature for each season, for the last 30 years.
Sources
Reuters London Europe summer temperature prediction
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL2646592020070626?pageNumber=2
CNN reports AP news about current heat wave in southern Europe.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/25/europe.heatwave.ap/
