Europe swelters in summer's first heatwave as climate change intensifies
Southern Europe sizzled Saturday in the season’s first heatwave, as climate change continues to drive temperatures higher on the world’s fastest-warming continent. Rome braced for 37°C (99°F), sending tourists and Catholic pilgrims scrambling towards the capital’s 2,5000 public fountains to cool off.
Southern Europeans braced Saturday for their first heatwave of the northern hemisphere summer, as climate change pushes thermometers on the world’s fastest-warming continent increasingly into the red.
Scientists have long warned that humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is heating up the world with disastrous consequences for the environment. Europe’s ever-hotter and increasingly common blistering summer heatwaves are a direct result of that warming, they argue.
In Italy, 17 cities — from Milan in the north to Palermo in the south — were put on red alert for high temperature, with peaks recorded of 39 degrees Celsius (12 Fahrenheit).
In Rome, the high temperatures drove the Eternal City’s many tourists and pilgrims towards its 2,500 public fountains for refreshment.
And in Venice, visitors to — and protesters against — Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos’s Friday wedding in Venice sweltered in the extreme heat.
The heatwave is forecast to become even more intense on Sunday.
Read more on FRANCE 24 English
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