Heatwaves in Europe 10 times more likely due to climate change

Live Mint , Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Correspondent : Stefan Nicola
Berlin: Europe is 10 times more likely to experience an unusually hot summer than at the turn of the century because of climate change, according to a new study. Researchers from the UK’s met office weather forecaster compared the periods of 1990-1999 to 2003-2012. They found that summers with temperatures 1.6 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) greater than the historical average now happen every 5 years compared with 52 years for the earlier period, the report published today by Nature Climate Change said. “With summer temperatures on an upward trajectory, the perception of extremely hot summers in Europe is set to change markedly over the next few decades,” the authors led by Nikolaos Christidis wrote. Heatwaves like the one that continental Europe suffered in 2003, killing tens of thousands of people, are now likely to occur every 127 years compared with less than one per millennium, the Met Office scientists found. They used updated summer temperatures and climate model results to reach their findings. Temperatures this year are on course for their highest globally since records began, with oceans bearing the brunt of the heat and the US and Canada spared the worst, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Temperatures are on track to rise 3.6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, the International Energy Agency estimates.
 
SOURCE : http://www.livemint.com/Politics/F3vOljKiAvkhh4lkxp3XTK/Heatwaves-in-Europe-10-times-more-likely-due-to-climate-chan.html
 


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