We're Having a Heat Dome

(©ZDF)

While in Europe in June 2019, we were suffering from a tropical heatwave; we are now smoldering under a tropical heat dome over Europe that has only slowly moved over the last five days.

When Ella sang "Gee her anatomy, made the mercury, jump to ninety three. Yes, sir!" today, the mercury didn't jump to 93 °F (34 °C), but at 6:18 PM it climbed to 36.9 °C (98.4 °F) on my shadowed terrace.

 
The temperature in my living room is 28.9 °C, which is tolerable because the relative humidity is only 50%. Despite the windows being closed, the CO₂ level remains within the green range due to the apartment's large volume.

When I wake up these days at 4 AM, I open the windows at opposite ends of my apartment wide to make a Durchzug (draught). This Querlüften (cross ventilation) improves air exchange.

At 7 AM, it's time to close the windows again because the outside temperature is approaching 30 °C.

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On June 24, the heat dome lingered over France ...

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 ... slowly sneaking into Central Europe and the British Isles by June 27.

©CNN

Temperature records were broken all over Europe

Charming weatherwoman Claire in "2050" (©WP)

In 2014, extrapolating from past data, Météo France predicted a hypothetical heat wave in August 2050. 

A shock. The hypothetical scenario happened 24 years earlier! (©WP)

There are still people who deny climate change and dismiss more frequent, longer heat waves as mere weather anomalies. However, scientists are concerned about the accelerating rise in temperature.

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©NYT

Is this year's abnormal El Niño reaching out to Europe?

Unfortunately, the caricature has melted (©Mario Lars)

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