Europe is baking under a heatwave. Temperatures have crossed 46°C in Spain and Portugal. Forest fires have broken out in France and Türkiye. Heatstrokes are on the rise in Rome. And Wimbledon just saw its hottest opening day on record. It’s so hot that zookeepers in Berlin are freezing animal food. They are delivering it to the animals in the form of “ice bombs”. Both man and beast are struggling to cope with Europe’s latest heatwave.
Why are Europeans being subjected to near-tropical temperatures? It’s because of a phenomenon known as a “Heat Dome”. Air currents cause Low and High pressure zones to form in the atmosphere. High pressure zones push clouds away, preventing rain and encouraging direct sunlight. This heats up the land beneath the high pressure zone. The high pressure in the atmosphere acts like the lid on a pressure cooker. It traps heat within a bubble. There’s no rain, barely any wind, and hot air can’t escape the bubble. This is known as a “Heat Dome”. And that’s exactly what’s taking place over Europe right now. The “Heat Dome” is causing a heatwave.
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, says that extreme heat has become the “new normal”, and that more ambitious climate action is needed to tackle it. But the biggest cause of human-induced climate change is the US. And the country has elected climate change deniers to government. Can the world fight against climate change with the Americans standing in the way?
