France and Spain experienced abnormally high temperatures on Thursday, which attracted some beachgoers but also added to growing worries about changing weather patterns in Europe.
Tourists were sunbathing in bikinis on the French Riviera, the terraces were packed, and the water was warm enough to swim in.
“At the end of October it cools down normally and by All Saints Day it usually rains, but this year is exceptional,” said Rose-Marie Martini, tanning on the beach in a bathing suit.
She stated that the water at her house was still warm enough for swimming (20 to 21 degrees Celsius) and that the heating was still off.
The exceptionally warm October in Western Europe comes after a summer when sweltering temperatures dried up rivers, farms, and forests and let flames run wild.
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A series of heatwaves hit Europe and brought attention once again to the risks that climate change caused by humans poses to agriculture, industry, and way of life.
“2022 is already the hottest year on record,” said weather forecaster Frederic Nathan at Meteo France, adding that while Indian summers were not unusual, in recent years the degree of warming had been reaching unprecedented levels.
“Each year now sees dozens of heat records and virtually no low temperatures, in a typical sign of climate change,” he said.
Spain saw exceptionally warm weather on Thursday, with some locations expected to top 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). According to the national weather service AEMET, this October could end up being the warmest on record.
With the exception of October 1st, according to AEMET, every day of the month has been warmer than normal for the season.
Cities like Cordoba and Seville were scheduled to sizzle at over 30C in southern Spain, and Moron de la Frontera exceeded 34.5 (94.1). (86 F).
Temperatures in the normally rainier and cooler Basque Country in the north also stayed above 30 degrees Celsius, with San Sebastian, a coastline city, experiencing heat more typical of July.
Separately, In the last two days, shocking studies regarding the severity of the escalating climate disaster have been released by all three of the major UN agencies.
One of the top climate experts in the world stated that the climate problem has reached a “very grim point” after a number of significant publications revealed how vulnerable the globe is to disaster.
Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said: “It’s a really bleak moment, not only because of the reports showing that emissions are still rising, so we’re not delivering on either the Paris or Glasgow climate agreements, but we also have so much scientific evidence that we are very, very close to irreversible changes – we’re coming closer to tipping points.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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