More and more records will be broken due to global warming, which leads to ever higher temperatures and more extreme weather events on the planet.
According to the report by the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) (“Extreme heat, widespread drought typify European climate in 2022“), globally the last eight years were the warmest on record and 2022 was the fifth warmest year. The report’s findings for the old continent demonstrate significant climate destabilization in Europe, as the summer of 2022 was the hottest summer on record. What has actually caused an impression is the fact that Western Europe is the one most affected by prolonged heat conditions, as for example in the United Kingdom where the temperature reached above 40°C for the first time.
There is an estimate that the trend of global warming will not decrease in the near future, as it has been pointed out so far that all climate models have fallen in on their predictions.
After February this year we went into an El Niño phase, which is expected to affect global atmospheric circulation. For Europe, it has been proven in the past that during El Niño periods, we have a tendency to increase rainfall in the Mediterranean, and indeed with a strong El Niño which the numerical models predict we will have next autumn. For now, the same weather pattern continues. The Balkans appear to be affected by colder than normal air masses and quite a bit of rain, so low barometric systems continue to affect this area of Europe.
For this year, however, it is too early to make accurate estimates, nevertheless there is optimism that the summer, based on the probabilities, will be relatively cool. Whether it will continue or not this summer we cannot know, there are many scenarios. Based on the available prognostic scenarios, we see that this year the temperatures this summer will probably fluctuate close to the average of the last 30 years.
According to the report of the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and as reported by the scientific team of climatebook, high temperatures and a persistent lack of rainfall caused a significant drought, which at its peak affected most of Europe, data that they also facilitated the spread of large forest fires, resulting in the year as a whole having the second highest burnt area on record across all EU countries.
However, the effects of the climate crisis continue to affect the Mediterranean as well, despite the fact that Western Europe was hit hardest in 2022. France and Italy experienced very severe drought until February and very high temperatures, with little snowfall in the heart of winter. . The Mediterranean continues to warm, only the southern Balkan region was not affected by extreme high temperatures. Turkey for example, had a very severe drought problem until March where there were areas where there was no rain or snow for 3 consecutive months. The drought that preceded it also had an impact on the floods that followed.
The climate crisis is increasingly intensifying extreme weather events, something that was demonstrated last year and was also confirmed by the long periods of drought that hit parts of Europe and also by the historic heat wave recorded in East Asia during this period. In the coming days, a heat wave is also expected in the Iberian Peninsula, as according to forecast models the temperature in some cities, such as Seville, is predicted to reach 39 degrees Celsius at the end of April.
We are in a phase of accelerated situation that perhaps scientists have underestimated. Extreme weather events have always existed, they are just being exacerbated by climate change. Climate models have so far fallen far short of the rise in temperature, so for the next few years the trend for a global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030 is an important factor that should not be ignored.
Droughts and hydrological phenomena more intense due to global warming, according to NASA study
Longer droughts but also more frequent and severe floods, finds a new study from NASA (“Warming Makes Droughts, Extreme Wet Events More Frequent, Intense“). The study confirms that long droughts and periods of heavy rainfall have indeed occurred more frequently. In fact, using special measurement methods and examining 20 years of data, they concluded that extreme water cycle events are becoming more frequent and also that the global overall intensity of these extreme events increased from 2002 to 2021.
According to the study and as reported by the climatebook scientific team, “the global intensity of these extreme wet and dry events is closely linked to global warming: from 2015 to 2021 – seven of the nine warmest years in modern climate records – the frequency of extreme wet and dry events was four per year, compared to three per year in the previous 13 years.”
