Heat wave scorches Europe, US: Hottest day forecast for Britain
PARIS, July 18: Much of Europe on Tuesday baked in tropical temperatures that climbed as high as 40 degrees Celsius, in an increasingly dangerous heat wave blamed for four deaths since Sunday.
In the United States, a number of regions, too, sweated through a heat wave, with many cities opening special ‘cooling centers’ as temperatures soared into triple digits.
Britain, already suffering the hottest day of the year on Tuesday, was braced for its hottest day on record as forecasters predicted temperatures could reach 39 C in parts of England on Wednesday.
In Spain, a 44-year-old man died of heat exhaustion at Orense, in the north-western region of Galicia, regional government officials said on Tuesday — two days after another man died in Murcia in the south.
He had reportedly been working outside as temperatures hit 41.5 C. The Spanish government has put in place a prevention programme this summer to warn vulnerable groups of the dangers of going out in the heat of the day.
The other two deaths blamed on the oppressive heat were recorded in France.
In the southwest Bordeaux region, where the temperature climbed to 38 C, local authorities reported that two octogenarians were the victims of hyperthermia. An 85-year-old man died in hospital and a woman, 81, at her home.
The high temperatures revived the spectre of the 2003 heat wave, which killed 30,000 people in Europe — around 15,000 of them in France.
Meteorologists in Germany are warning their countrymen that Thursday could be the hottest day in the year at 38 C, and July as a whole could be the hottest month in a century.
A spokeswoman for Britain’s Met office said about Wednesday: “We think there’s a possibility of the record being broken in the area to the west of London, where there is a concentration of hot air.”
The highest temperature ever recorded in Britain was 38.5 C in Kent on Aug 10, 2003.
The London underground system, the oldest in the world, was transformed into a furnace on Tuesday with a record temperature of 47 C as temperatures in the capital reached 33 C.
Bus passengers fared even worse, with temperatures on buses in the City of London, the main financial district, reaching 52 C.
Britain’s trade union body the TUC has called for workers to be allowed to cast off their jackets and ties and dress casually to help beat the heat and lessen the reliance on air conditioning.
But the sunny weather proved an ideal day to launch the Solarshuttle, Britain’s largest solar-powered boat.
The 14.5 metre craft was due to ply the waters of the Serpentine lake in London’s Hyde Park, carrying 42 passengers at a genteel 6.4kms per hour.
The Netherlands, Finland and Sweden all reported unusually hot weather.
BAKED APPLE: Much of the United States sweated through a national heat wave on Tuesday, with many cities opening special ‘cooling centers’ as temperatures soared into triple digits.
For New Yorkers, the Big Apple was more like the Baked Apple and power demand surged as frazzled residents cradled their air conditioners.
Monday saw the mercury hit 37 degrees Celsius at New York’s LaGuardia Airport — the highest temperature registered since records started being kept in 1948.
High demand was blamed for a power breakdown on Monday evening at one of the airport’s four terminals, which caused some flight delays.
The municipal authorities ordered the opening of so-called cooling centers across the city — air-conditioned facilities normally located in senior citizen and community centers, for use by the general public.—AFP
PARIS, July 18: Much of Europe on Tuesday baked in tropical temperatures that climbed as high as 40 degrees Celsius, in an increasingly dangerous heat wave blamed for four deaths since Sunday.
