European Countries: Unseasonably High Temperature Set To Continue In October

Experts said that European countries would continue to experience unseasonably high temperatures in the month of October.

(Photo : Getty Images/Christopher Furlong)

Countries such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland have all experienced their hottest temperatures last month.

Earlier, the EU climate monitor said that global temperatures in September in the northern hemisphere summer were the hottest on record.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service also forecasted that 2023 would be the hottest year, which the humanity has experienced.

Heat dome

Experts noted that a strong heat dome would develop anew over Western Europe, with a new heatwave for countries underneath.

Temperatures will be back into the upper 30s over Iberia and mid-30s in France.

Meanwhile, temperatures that are up to mid-20s will be observed over the southern United Kingdom.

Based on initial observation, the heatwave will first develop into southwestern Europe then it is seen to gradually spread into western and central Europe as the heat dome expands across a large part of the continent.

Weather experts warned that in the next several days, residents will encounter extremely high temperatures for some parts of the continent.

French weather agency, Météo-France, noted that as 31C (88F) was forecasted in south-west France and 28C in Paris, the country's average temperature was 21.5C, between 3.5C and 3.6C above the norm for the 1991-2020 reference period.

This recorded temperature has made it the hottest September - by more than 1C - since records began in 1900.

Meteorologists said that in several regions, the deviation from the September average of the past three decades had exceeded 4C, or sometimes 6C.

On the other hand, Germany's weather office, DWD, said that the month of September had also been the hottest since national records started, which was almost 4C higher than the 1961-1990 baseline.

For its part, Belgium's 19C average temperature was also almost 4C warmer than what was considered as normal.

Authorities also said that Poland's September temperatures was 3.6C higher than average, and the hottest for the month since records began more than 100 years ago.

This was similar to what was encountered in Austria and Switzerland.

The heat dome is defined as a weather pattern that brings high and sometimes record-challenging temperatures for the region.

It is often blamed for being responsible for deadly heatwaves worldwide as scorching and excessive heat lasts for a long period of time.

Meanwhile, a heat wave, associated with a heat dome, is seen to create stable weather and often arid air mass with minimal chances for precipitation or even clouds.

This is because the sinking air parcels in the center of the heat dome result in rising temperatures.

Climate change

Scientists said that climate change driven by human activity has been pushing global temperatures higher, with the world at around 1.2C of warming above pre-industrial levels.

According to the MET Office, the main cause of climate change is burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal.

When burnt, these fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the air, which will later cause the planet to heat up.

This has resulted to extreme weather events such as intense heatwaves, drought, wildfires and storms.

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