The whole earth was "hot" last week
Over the past week, record high temperatures have been recorded across the world, with weather maps showing the entire planet painted in a fiery red.
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| Map showing weather over the past week. Photo: WASHINGTON POST |
According to the newspaperWashington PostFrom summertime Ireland, Scotland and Canada to the scorching heat of the Middle East, many parts of the northern hemisphere have seen record-breaking temperatures over the past week. The heat has cracked roads in the UK, while the Scottish town of Motherwell has recorded an all-time high of 33.2C. France's Meteo France weather agency has issued orange weather warnings for parts of the country, while the Middle Eastern nation of Oman has recorded the world's hottest nighttime temperature.
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| The village of Tirril in Cumbria, England, suffered a record heatwave that caused the asphalt to melt and stick to the sole of a pedestrian's shoe. Photo: ABC news |
The situation is likely to get worse as weather experts warn that extreme temperatures will continue to plague the Northern Hemisphere, leading to potentially sweltering conditions in the coming days.
Scientists say the scale of the unusual heatwave this week is due to global warming. "Summers are getting hotter," said Friederike Otto, a scientist at Oxford University who studies heatwaves in Europe.
“If we do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the kind of extreme temperatures we are seeing this summer will be the norm by the time my son is a teenager,” said Otto.
Heat waves are not a new extreme weather phenomenon. But climate scientist Blair Feltmate of the University of Waterloo says their length and severity are linked to climate change. Globally, the world’s average annual temperature is already 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was a century ago, Feltmate added.
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| Global heatwave in numbers - Photo: Global News |
