A red warning for extreme heat was issued for various parts of the UK this week, including LondonBrook Mitchell/Getty Images
I’m finding the heatwave hitting Europe really scary. It’s bad enough in itself, with many records being broken, especially for the higher nighttime temperatures that make it so much harder to cope. But I just keep thinking, “If it’s like this now, what’s it going to be like in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time?”
The answer, of course, is hotter and hotter and hotter. In the UK, national weather service the Met Office has just warned that, by 2056, there could be nine days in a row with temperatures above 40°C (104°F), with some places hitting 45°C (113°F). In just 30 years! I’ve seen at least one piece asking “is this the new normal?” about the current heatwave, but we’re never going to have normal in our lifetimes again – just ever more extreme heat.
It’s possible to get through even worse heatwaves than this if all your infrastructure and systems are geared up to cope. But the UK is very much not prepared. The air conditioning in New Scientist’s office, for instance, is failing to keep up with the heat as I write – and lots of people have to endure this hot weather without any air conditioning at all. In a sign of the times, a meeting on adapting to extreme heat – part of London Climate Action Week – got cancelled because of extreme heat.
