What Is a Heat Dome, Causing Excessively High Temperatures in Western Europe? • FRANCE 24 English

Why It Matters

Intensifying heat domes raise health, infrastructure and wildfire risks and signal that climate change is amplifying extreme weather, increasing costs for public services and economic disruption. Tracking these events helps governments and businesses prepare for hotter, more volatile seasons.

Summary

Western Europe is experiencing record May heat driven by a heat dome, which traps hot air under high atmospheric pressure and has pushed temperatures in the UK and France into the low 30s Celsius. The same mechanism has caused extreme heat in India and last winter’s West Coast warm spell in the U.S., and has been linked to deadly, landscape-altering events such as Canada’s 2021 wildfire-linked heat peak. Scientists say heat domes are a long-standing weather pattern now intensified by global warming, producing unusually early and severe heat events. The current heat dome over Europe is forecast to persist through at least Friday before gradually weakening.

Original Description

France and the United Kingdom are currently being affected by a heat dome, driving up temperatures in western Europe. Although the phenomenon is common, it is now being exacerbated by climate change. It’s the same mechanism that has been affecting India for weeks, with temperatures exceeding 45°C in some places, and has led to wildfires in Canada in 2021.

#heatwave #climatechange #heatdome

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