On Monday, the World Meteorological Organization suggested that a severe heat wave would hit the Mediterranean region, by the middle of this week, at a time when a climate scientist revealed that the effects of the “El Nino” repercussions would appear more months later.
The United Nations organization said on its website: “The heat is expected to intensify by the middle of the week in parts of the Mediterranean region, including Greece and Turkey. This is likely to continue into next August.”
Extreme heat waves are no longer just a “coincidence”
In the context of recording record temperatures around the world, the director of the “Pierre Simon Laplace Institute”, Robar Futar, considered that the extreme heat waves were no longer just a “coincidence”.
The climate sciences specialist told AFP that although there is no climate link between different regions of the world, climate change exacerbates extreme weather phenomena everywhere on the planet.
In response to a question about the reasons why several parts of the world record extreme temperatures at the same time, he said: “It mostly comes from weather phenomena linked to climate change. For southern Europe, for example, it is witnessing a very strong reversible cyclone with weak winds, which makes it stable and prevents unrest”.
Scorching air masses from the desert
“These high pressures trap warm air, which raises temperatures, and this is exacerbated by the southerly winds on the western side that bring scorching air masses from the desert,” he added.
Regarding the relationship between these different global phenomena, he said: “It is not a single phenomenon, but several phenomena that occur at the same time. But all of them are reinforced by one factor: climate change. Therefore, it is at the same time a coincidence and not a coincidence. This is why we record record temperatures.”
“In the summer, it is not surprising that the weather is very hot in certain areas, but if the weather is this hot, it is due to global warming, which makes extreme events more frequent and more intense,” Futar added.
“This is the case with regard to heat waves, and it is quite logical, in light of climate change, that the probability of them occurring simultaneously in several places on the globe increases,” he added.
Do we expect the heat to intensify with the emergence of the El Nino phenomenon?
In this context, the climatologist emphasized, “It is still too early to estimate the impact of the El Niño phenomenon on the current heat wave. Warming of the Pacific Ocean could contribute to a rise in temperatures. But the El Niño phenomenon has just begun, is still developing, and its full effects will not appear until months later.” “.
But even without it, according to Futar, “we can say that heat waves like the ones we are currently witnessing will increase more, both in terms of frequency and intensity. We expect to face problems with temperature levels that will sometimes become dangerous for living organisms.”
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2023-07-17 16:44:37
