Europe is boiling. And burning. Violent heat waves sweep across the continent. Last week, the UK declared a national state of emergency. The country measured the highest temperatures ever when the thermometer reached 40 degrees Celsius. A man takes a dip off the quay in Canary Wharf in east London. Recently, the UK has had record high temperatures. Photo: Victoria Jones / AP Violent forest fires have ravaged several places. In Greece, news spoke to people who have evacuated their houses as a result of forest fires outside Athens. The picture shows a burnt forest north of Athens in Greece. Photo: Ingeborg Undheim / news Although the summer has been cooler than usual so far, the heat wave is also on its way to Greece, according to local media. Europe in change news has compared satellite images from NASA over Europe. The pictures show big differences in just one month. Use the swipe to compare one month’s development in, for example, parts of Great Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands: Satellite images of England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, for example, show the difference one month can make.NASA/Mathias Revheim-Rafaelsen In the images, it is clear that this part of Europe is not as green in July as in June. It was Sky News that first mentioned satellite images with the differences in the UK. Expert: – Very big difference – There is a very big difference in those pictures. It is clearly dry, and it goes from green to brown and grey. That’s what professor and director at the Nansen Center for the Environment and Remote Sensing, Tore Furevik, says to news. He is not surprised. On the contrary. – It would surprise me if it hadn’t become drier, because it has been very hot, he says to news. Climate researcher Tore Furevik is not surprised by the differences in the satellite images. Photo: Sindre Skrede He says large parts of Europe are now struggling. – Europe is in a rather serious drought. This applies to countries in the south, such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, which have had very high temperatures, but also parts of England, France and Germany. Norway largely spared The European Drought Observatory monitors the situation in Europe. It shows that in large parts of Central and Southern Europe there is a great danger to the vegetation as a result of drought. In Norway, there is a lack of moisture in the soil in large parts of southern and eastern Norway. It was hot in Oslo this week, and many went to the sea and Sørenga to cool off. Photo: Trond Reidar Teigen / NTB Nevertheless, Norway has been spared the worst heat waves so far, says Furevik. – Norway felt a bit of the heat wave this week, but we don’t get the high temperatures here like further south. This summer in Norway is actually quite ordinary. He says we know the consequences of the heat waves in other ways than actual hot temperatures. – One of the effects has been less power production. Less hydropower in Europe is helping to push up prices. Less agricultural production leads to higher food prices. So we notice it, we and, says Furevik. Getting worse There are also challenges in the USA and Asia. – It is exactly the same in the south-west of the USA and in Asia. China is in the middle of a heat wave and a drought, says Furevik. In California, thousands have been evacuated due to violent wildfires in Yosemite National Park. And according to Furevik, it gets worse before it gets better, in the short and long term. – Climate change means that we get more frequent and hotter heat waves. The climate forecasts suggest quite clearly that the month of August will be the same as now, if not worse.
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