Exceptionally early heat wave shatters records in western Europe
A spring heat dome shattered May temperature records across western Europe, with London’s Kew Gardens hitting 35.1 C and southwestern France reaching about 36 C while firefighters battled a grass fire in Edinburgh. The 35.1 C at Kew broke the 34.8 C record set there the previous day, and overnight lows widely stayed above 20 C, prolonging heat exposure. Officials linked the early-season heat to several drowning deaths as people flocked to public pools and ponds and organizers deployed water mists for spectators at the French Open. The unusually early timing amplifies risks to public health, firefighting capacity, and infrastructure, showing why out-of-season extreme heat matters now.
REMINDER: Global heat waves are FOSSIL FUEL‑driven climate chaos. Recent research shows that warming linked to the world’s biggest oil and gas companies has made EVERY major 21st‑century heatwave more intense and more frequent.
Greenpeace International 🌍40It's time to #MakePollutersPay. Make oil, coal and gas corporations pay their fair share for the damage they cause. Introduce new taxes or fines on them to help communities at home and around the world rebuild from climate disasters and invest in renewable energy and real climate solutions.
goldenstatecats.bsky.social6I call it: Dead Dinosaur Climate Chaos Remember that MAGA won’t understand the phrase ‘fossil fuel’
BiochemDoc3Wait until these new data centers start pumping their heat, and turbine exhaust into the atmosphere.
heritagehunter.bsky.social2Wheres the link to the research youre referring to please?
thebestpotato.bsky.social2Greenpeace does not suport nuclear power. You canot claim to be against climate change Unless you suport nuclear. It is the solution.
stop writing articles about extreme heat using fun summer imagery challenge: impossible (apparently) apnews.com/article/euro...
Sue Kirk31I have been banging this drum for years Headline: this is very, very bad, many people will die and it will only get worse Picture: YEY! BEACH! FUN! ICE-CREAM!
Bob Henson11Excellent point well taken. Not always easy to do. News is about what's happening *now*, so file photos of past heat waves, or generic shots of fires, etc., aren't ideal. Much heat-wave suffering is behind closed doors (in structures w/out A/C). And sufferers may not want pix of themselves used.
Dust and Road9It's enraging. BBC interviewed members of the public for a feature on the news last night. They featured one man that said 'If this is global warming, bring it on!'. No. No, let's not 'bring it on' shall we? Bringing it on is already bringing misery to millions of people around the world. FFS.
Peter Thorne8The irony that my quote is lifted from sciencemediacentre.ie/historic-may... is quite exceptionally deliciously ironic
heather gm (she/her)7right up there with promoting vaccine articles that use needle shots. I get that these have become tropes at this point but it is still not a good practice
🌿Fern🌿4Reminds me of the Death Valley pictures from 2023 Presented like it was fun! ☀️
TallyAnnaE ☮️🌊 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈💙🦋🐸4That looks more like hell than fun.
Nicola4Simplistic headlines and clickbait imagery drive me crazy. We’re already drowning in misinformation and a lack of critical thinking. Using “fun summer imagery” for reporting on deadly heat is sooo off-subject.
LaticsExile4BBC are the worst offenders here. Lots of people in the sea or sunbathing in parks.
Deb Jeffrey2Here's one with lots of dead marine lif. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Dr Seán DOOLAN 🏴 🇮🇪2Especially when deaths are being reported of people (mainly teens) who had taken to water to cool off.
It’s climate change caused by our burning of fossil fuels. One thing Americans might not appreciate about Europe is that many people don’t have air conditioning at home or at work.
TeachermanWZ5The only room with AC in many schools and public buildings is the server room. Which also nicely demonstrates the priorities 😉
belleslettres.bsky.social4Most Europeans don’t have a/c. So far, my medieval building has retained the cool!
A. “Tony” Shifflett2Yep. Europe is traditionally too far north to justify air conditioning costs. Now they suffer in the heat, and aren't used to it or equipped for it.
Dr. Tanya Lentz, R.Psych.2Many places in Canada are in the same boat and trying to rapidly update hospitals etc.
News presenters talking delightedly about the current record-breaking heat wave feels like a scene straight out of Don't Look Up. The asteroid is well on course for a direct hit.
Sue Kirk26i literally just posted this. Honestly, I feel like I am going insane
Christopher J Stevens6Sadly, it's not only the news presenters:
Oisín McGann5‘There is a ninety-nine percent chance of total global destruction.’ ‘So not a hundred percent?’
Pintswiththelads3While it is certainly nice to get warm sunny weather in Ireland at any time but especially in summer, these rising temperatures come with a global cost.
Justin2It drives me mad. "Record-breaking" is not the way to describe it - at all!!! Especially alongside photos of a beach full of sunbathers.
Firefighters battled a grass fire in Edinburgh and temperature records toppled as a spring heatwave scorched parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life.
Alexander J. Stein8Do you think it's appropriate to show a beach scene to illustrate an article about a scorching heatwave and government warnings about risks to life? (And we're still only in May.) Isn't that aestheticising – or perhaps "holiday-washing" – climate change?
Niall McAuley6Please don't use beach holiday photos on climate catastrophe stories.
Unfortunately, Europe has already normalized a lot of people dying in heat waves every summer. But it will get worse and worse until they get over themselves. The judgement for AC (bad, decadent) as opposed to heaters (moral, correct) is so odd. Things that preserve life are good, actually.
Elly, a Wentworth skeptic11I mean I guess the judgement isn’t TOTALLY odd, it’s historical norms going brrrr, but it’s time to catch up. Yes, people have literally always needed heat in those regions and still do. True, AC is “newfangled” relatively, but some people always died in the summers and now lots and lots are.
Lousywriting 🔯 🌴5Heaters also use more energy than AC does. I really do not understand it.
azinae.bsky.social4I think it is because of 4 things: not being used to bad weather: -12C to 25C 4 seasons was the norm Gov shoulder shrugging Being stingy/frugal Anything to do with caring for the body, especially disabled bodies, is seen as wasteful History of calvinism + eugenics At least in NL where I was born
BlueBird2US National Weather Service consistently finds that extreme heat kills more Americans per year than hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, & lightning combined. According to WHO, modern heatwaves cause roughly 489,000 deaths annually worldwide. This will get worse. Climate change is real.
