Paris braces for record heat as Europe scorched again
22 July 2019 (AFP) – Parisians were bracing on Monday for potentially the hottest ever temperature in the French capital this week as a new heatwave blasted into northern Europe that could set records in several countries.
Temperatures were already topping 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday in Paris, but the mercury could soar beyond 40C on Thursday and topple a record dating back to 1947.
The severe heat, which forecasters say will only last a few days but will be exceptionally intense, is also expected to affect parts of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
“It’s likely that these three countries will see temperatures at or above 40C for the first time,” Francois Jobard, a forecaster from the French Meteo France weather office, told AFP.
The new blast of hot air comes less than a month after a heatwave scorched Europe at the end of June, forcing new attention on the issue of climate change.
Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who highlighted the problem of global warming through school strikes, is due to visit the French parliament on Tuesday. Some right-wing MPs have said her visit is needless, with Julien Aubert of the Republicans describing her as a “prophetess in shorts, a Nobel Prize for Fear” in comments denounced by green activists.
“The heatwave that is too much,” declared the headline in Le Parisien newspaper, highlighting that “Act II” of this summer’s severe weather would further hurt production of crops from potatoes to grapes.
Jobard from Meteo France said that Thursday was shaping up to be “a potentially historically hot day”.
“We are forecasting 41 or 42 degrees in Paris on Thursday and there is the strong chance of beating the record,” he added.
The highest ever temperature recorded in Paris was 40.4 degrees Celsius (104.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in 1947. Since records began in 1873, this was the only time a plus-40 temperature was recorded in the French capital, he said.
With pollution climbing, only vehicles with a special clean air certificate will be allowed into central Paris on Tuesday, the local authorities said. […]
Germany was already experiencing several forest fires and drying river beds while farmers fear another bad crop after last year’s low yield which was also caused by an unusually hot summer. […]
Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, who highlighted the problem of global warming through school strikes, is due to visit the French parliament on Tuesday.
Some right-wing MPs have said her visit is needless, with Julien Aubert of the Republicans describing her as a “prophetess in shorts, a Nobel Prize for Fear” in comments denounced by green activists. [more]
