LONDON (AP) — Large parts of western Europe were sweltering once again on Thursday, with Britain and France entering their fifth heat waves of an exceptional summer that’s threatening to break even more records.
Forecasters in the U.K. are predicting the mercury will rise as high as 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) in central and southeast England, potentially making it the hottest day of the year. The highest temperature this year was recorded on June 26 when the temperature hit 38 C in eastern England.
The U.K.’s Met Office said earlier this week that only average conditions were needed for the rest of August to beat last year’s record for the hottest year.
Temperatures in France, meanwhile, are forecast to go even higher, reaching 40 degrees C (104 F) in central and southern areas and 38 C in Paris.
Britain and France ill-equipped for this sort of heat
This summer has shown that both Britain and France are ill-equipped to deal with these levels of heat. Air conditioning is a rarity outside of shops and offices, for example.
In Britain, it emerged Thursday that working has been particularly difficult in hospitals, where nurses have been known to collapse from heat exhaustion, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
“When nursing staff are collapsing, feeling dizzy, sick or even being admitted to the very hospitals they work in because their workplaces cannot handle the heat, it shows just how badly they are being failed,” said Nicola Ranger, the college’s chief executive and general secretary.
Unsurprisingly, drought conditions are spreading
Like many parts of Europe, Britain and France are facing widespread drought conditions that have shriveled crops and drained rivers, heaping pressure on water resources for households, agriculture and the environment, and forcing governments and water users to seek both short- and long-term measures to mitigate the effects of human-caused climate change.
Britain’s Southern Water, which oversees supplies in the south of England, has applied for a rare drought order which would ban businesses from nonessential water use, including cleaning cars and filling nondomestic swimming pools, saying an “exceptional” lack of rain has threatened supplies in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Environment Secretary Angela Eagle will decide on the application, which would be the first such ban since May 2006.
Wildfire fears remain a clear and present danger
With the land parched and no sign of any meaningful rain coming, authorities in Britain and France remain on high alert for wildfires.
In Britain, which is increasingly looking sandy brown rather than its traditional luscious green, firefighters have been out in force this week trying to contain a wildfire in the New Forest in southern England.
Some 1,017 wildfires have been recorded in England and Wales this year, according to data from the National Fire Chiefs Council, the same as last year’s record-breaking total.
Though not on the same level as those witnessed in France, Greece and Spain, they provide ample evidence of the need for the U.K. to adjust to a new reality.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will consider imposing a ban on disposable barbecues amid the risk of further wildfires as extreme heat continues to grip parts of the U.K.
“I do believe we need to get the message out loud and clear,” he said. “People should not be using those barbecues outside at this moment in time.”
French firefighters were back in action too after a desperate summer and are threatening to go on strike to demand more staff and resources to cope with increasingly extreme weather events.
One broke out late Wednesday in the northern Pas-de-Calais region, and another in Brittany, far from the hotter, drier and more fire-prone regions in southern France. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux last month and pushed a quarter of a million people from their homes.
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Charlton reported from Paris.
