August 13, 2021

expert reaction to Met Office blog suggesting Europe needs to prepare for temperatures of 50°C in future

An official blog from the Met Office news team suggests that Europe will need to prepare for the possibility of temperatures reaching 50°C.

Prof Grant Allen, Professor of Atmospheric Physics, University of Manchester, said:

“The pace of climate change is now becoming all too visible in our everyday lives.  Records are broken more and more often, with extremes of weather of all kinds and the impacts that go with them, which include flooding, wildfires, and heat stress to our vulnerable populations and infrastructure.  No country is immune.  We not only need to prepare for a new and dangerous normal, but a continually worsening normal over the coming decades as the climate continues to warm as we try to grapple with (as yet) ever increasing global greenhouse gas emissions.  The prediction that Europe must prepare for temperatures of 50 C in the near future should come as no surprise.  The impacts of climate change on the frequency of extreme weather events does not simply scale proportionately with global average temperature change – every additional 0.1 C change may be worse than the same change before it when thinking about the changing frequency of extreme events.  Anyone that thinks that climate change may simply mean a more pleasant summer in the years to come is extremely mistaken.  These impacts will cost lives and have profound economic consequences.  The scale and pace of these impacts must be matched by global measures to not only reduce emissions but to remove carbon from the atmosphere.  The current mood music from global policymakers is encouraging but this must be met with clear plans of action and the will (and investment) to see them through.”

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2021/08/12/europe-needs-to-prepare-for-temperatures-of-50c-in-future/

Declared interests

Prof Grant Allen: “Prof Grant Allen is professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Manchester and holds UKRI funding to study the quantification of global greenhouse gas emissions.”