“Era of global warming has ended; era of global boiling has arrived” !!

“Era of global warming has ended; era of global boiling has arrived”: What does this mean?

KAKALI DAS

When the world is reeling from unprecedented high temperatures, U.N Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez has issued a stark warning on the prevailing climate concern –

“The Era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. The air is unbreathable, the heat is unbearable, and the level of fossil fuel profits and climate in action is unacceptable.”

The warring comments come in the backdrop of nations across the globe scrambling to battle heat waves and numerous wildfires. Commenting on the recent events, the U.S President Joe Biden has called climate change an existential threat.

Mercury rises in the month of July

The month of July is slated to become the world’s hottest month shattering every other earlier record. The trend of extreme heat is evident all across the world together. Greece’s Capital Athens is bracing for the hottest July weekend in 50 years with temperatures forecast to soar above 40 degrees Celsius.

Relentless wildfires in the country are forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate from the popular islands of Rhodes and Corfu. Other nations of southern Europe such as Italy, Spain and France are sweltering in a record-breaking heat wave. The heat has even caused several deaths across the globe. A desert valley in eastern California called the Death Valley was one of the hottest places on the planet recently.

This year, on the 6^th of July, the Earth’s average temperatures set a new unofficial record high. The planetary average hit 17.23 degrees Celsius. It was the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record.

The average global temperature on the 4^th of July was 17.18 degree Celsius. One day earlier on the 3^rd of July, it was 17.01 degree Celsius. All these temperatures surpassed the last record of August 2016 of 16.92 degree Celsius when the heat wave sizzled around the world.

According to climate information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average temperature on earth lies somewhere around 57 degrees Fahrenheit or 13.9 degrees Celsius measured across land and ocean, night and day. With the world’s average temperature reaching new records and still rising, 2023 may become the hottest year.

In the US, the southwest region has been baking under hotter than normal temperatures – parts of Arizona have seen temperatures of 43.3 degrees Celsius everyday of this month. Temperatures in South Texas recently soared to 48 degrees Celsius. Extreme weather is creating records in China too – a Township in the country’s added Northwest endured temperatures of more than 52 degrees Celsius.

In India, a South-western Coastal State Kerala recorded 120 deaths due to a heat wave so far this year. It is the highest number of such deaths in the country. Southern Europe continues to experience fierce heat. 20 cities across Italy have been issued red alerts.

And even the continent at the bottom of the world, Antarctica, which is currently in its winter season has registered unusually high temperatures. The white continent’s Argentine Islands broke its temperature record with 8.7 degrees Celsius recently. Experts expect more such record breaking events in the future.

As we have seen, heat waves are ripping all through Europe, the United States and Asia. The heat has sparked intense wildfires, threatening homes and livelihoods across the world, but what is a heat wave?

What is a heat wave?

The heat wave is defined by the Meteorological Office, the United Kingdom’s national weather Service as an uninterrupted period of exceptionally high temperatures. There is a threshold temperature for it to be described as a heat wave and it is different for different countries. The threshold has to be exceeded for 3 days in a row for it to be called a heat wave.

If it doesn’t last for 3 days, it’s simply referred to as a hot spell. Summer heat waves are becoming longer, stronger and more frequent, but it is something one should expect to see more often in the future. Millions of people are dealing with extreme heat waves as it continues to raise temperatures to unhealthy levels.

Why is Europe becoming a Heatwave Hotspot? Which countries are vulnerable to heat waves?

Greece

From one of the most impoverished regions to southern Europe, Greece’s heat wave is set to become the longest in the country’s recorded history. The latest heatwave comes at one of the busiest times for the country’s tourism industry. People have been advised to stay home and tourist sites including the Acropolis of Athens were shut during the hottest parts of the day.

Meanwhile, firefighters have been battling dozens of wildfires burning across Greece. In the island of Rhodes, one of Greece’s most popular vacation destinations, over 30,000 locals and tourists had to be evacuated on 23^rd July. The Rhodes fire roared down mountain slopes burning homes and cars. It prompted the biggest evacuation in Greek history.

Wildfires are also sweeping other Greek islands, while, Corfu, another popular destination has been enduring dozens of blazes. Horrifying scenes were seen across the island, the fire left trees black and skeletal, while wild animals lay on the road near burnt out cars.

Italy

Red alerts for extreme heat have been issued in most of Italy’s main cities. The warnings mean the heat poses a threat to everybody, not just the vulnerable groups. Yet pilgrims and tourists endured sweltering heat for a glimpse of Pope Francis with temperatures soaring in the Italian capital.

“It has been very hot here since we arrived. We’re finding it hard to get used to, and we realised that it’s hotter here than it is at home in Africa. The heat goes on well into the night and sometimes we even find it hard to sleep” – a South African tourist in Italy.

As Italy bakes under an intense heat wave, a zoo in Rome has taken steps to help the animals cope with the extreme heat. The zoo keepers are offering frozen treats filled with fruit, vegetables or meat to the zoo’s inmates as a way of keeping them cool.

Spain

An intense heatwave has also gripped Spain. Wildfires continue to burn on the Spanish Canary Islands of La Palma.  More than 4000 residents were forced to flee their homes. In southern Spain, the intense summer heat is disrupting Vineyards at the Bodegas Robles’ Winery in Montilla. Grape pickers work in the early hours of morning to avoid the day’s heat.

“During the day, in the field, because the temperatures are 45-55 degrees Celsius, it is impossible to do agricultural work. What we have been doing for several years now is starting at 4 or 5 in the morning when the temperature is pleasant and finish at 11” – a Grape picker said.

Despite the sweltering heat Spaniards stepped out of their homes and took part in an election that many saw as ill-timed in the middle of summer. On the 23^rd of July, voters in southern Spain breathed the heat to cast their ballots.

Croatia

Citizens across Europe are finding different ways to beat the heat – natural sunscreen to the rescue.

The Queen’s Beach is the most famous beach in the town of middle Croatia. Ditching their sunscreens, locals and tourists are seen slathering themselves in mud in the beach – apparently, it’s an age-old trick to prevent from sunburn – a pretty messy affair indeed.

And, then, divers go deep to flea heat – a safe haven underwater. With temperatures setting records, scuba diving into the debts of the Adriatic Sea has become one of the rarest for people escaping soaring temperatures.

Tourists who embarked on a small boat alongside the island of Veer are raving about the opportunity to escape the heat – some diving two days in a row after a refreshing dip.

The United States

In the summer of extremes, intense heat is gripping large parts of the northern hemisphere. The heat waves have been plaguing vast stretches of the Southern United States, and the forecast is that it will continue in areas that have been burning for weeks.

The fast growing homeless population of Phoenix is one of the worst hit by the record heatwave hitting the city of Arizona. For the 19^th continuous day, daytime temperatures in Phoenix remained above 43.3 degrees Celsius breaking the heat record that was made 50 years ago.

As Arizona battles a relentless heatwave, the Phoenix Zoo has taken measures to keep its animals safe. Zookeepers have been creating a variety of frozen treats from vegetable-filled ice cubes for horses to frozen grapes to monkeys. These treats help the animals cool down and stay hydrated.

On the 16^th of July, temperatures soared up to 53 degrees Celsius in the California desert. Also in water around Florida, ocean temperatures have soared 5 degrees above the normal since early July. The ocean heat has scientists worried about cascading disasters besides exacerbating the heat on land. It could lead to coral bleaching and even hurricanes.

China

The intense heat waves across Asia have shown new signs of a beating. Beijing broke a 23-year-old record with 27 consecutive days of temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius. In China’s south-western municipality of Chongqing, 127 cooling shelters have been put up across railway stations. The shelters are equipped with air conditioning, free water and even medicine to combat heat stroke.

And the flaming mountains in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region saw a staggering 80-degree Celsius surface temperature. Despite the scorching heat wave, tourists flock to the scenic spot to experience the extreme heat first hand.

Amidst the record-breaking heat wave in China, people have found innovative ways to protect themselves from the sun including the face kidney, a full face mask made of UV resistant fabric featuring holes for the eyes and nose.

How El Nino is driving extreme weather?

The summer’s warming has coincided with the onset of the climate phenomenon called El Nino – the climate, which in Spanish means ‘little boy’, refers to an abnormal warming of water in the Pacific Ocean. The waters in the Pacific Ocean alternate between a warm and cold phase every two to seven years.

The cold phase or La Nina (meaning, little girl in Spanish) usually has opposite impacts as compared to El Nino. This year, the climate pattern has returned for the first time in 4 years. It causes more intense heat waves, more powerful storms and prolonged hot seasons.

“There is something called as the El Nino oscillation, which basically deals with the anomalous warming of the parts of Pacific Ocean that is close to the equator, and that just dumps a lot of heat in the atmosphere. So, we know that the Earth naturally heats up and we are into this El Nino phase which is happening now. So, next summer is going to be challenging, but again we don’t know right now which areas would be specifically hot, but that’s going to be a bit of a challenge in terms of high temperatures and heat waves” – Dr Akshay Deoras, Meteorologist, Research Scientist, University of Reading, UK

Conclusion

The dangerously high temperatures of the summers 2023 are also a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of climate change. As the planet continues to get warmer, extreme heat events like the one we have seen will become more frequent and more severe. The alarm bells are ringing.

Kakali Das is the Assistant Editor of Mahabahu/ e-mail: kakali@mahabahu.com

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