New heat record in Europe has been confirmed
A new heat record in Europe has been confirmed, and it reportedly occurred on August 11, 2021, on a European island.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on January 30 that a new heat record was reached in Europe.
The new heat record in Europe was on the island of Sicily (Italy), where the thermometer rose to 48.8 degrees Celsius on August 11, 2021.
This new heat record in Europe has been confirmed by a special panel of atmospheric scientists formed by the WMO, following the analysis of a multitude of information and elements.
The previous record was set on July 10, 1977, in the Greek cities of Athens and Elefsina, at 48 degrees Celsius, although on that occasion, the only source was the measurements of official entities in Greece and there was no independent assessment, as in the record announced today.
New Heat Record in Europe
In this way, Sicily stands in the records as the place with the highest temperature in European history: 48.8 degrees.
The WMO committee conducted a thorough analysis of the available data and metadata, including an independent analysis and calibration of the Syracuse sensor and its associated data logger and sunshield.
In this regard, the temperature sensor in Sicily was sent to the National Institute of Metrological Research (INRiIM) in Italy for testing. The committee unanimously deemed the observation of the value of 48.8°C valid.
The WMO expert committee is conducting further investigations, including whether last year’s Tropical Cyclone Freddy set the record for the longest-lasting tropical cyclone.
The new records set provide an authoritative benchmark for comparing unprecedented extreme events in the WMO reports on the state of the climate on a global and regional scale, which are published every year.
The EU’s Earth observation program, Copernicus, issued a report a few weeks ago on the global climate behavior in 2023, confirming that the year we have just left behind has been the warmest ever recorded, with a global temperature close to the 1.5°C limit compared to the period 1850-1900.
In this way, it surpasses 2016, which until now held the record for the warmest year.
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The study indicates that the unprecedented global temperatures recorded from June onwards have led to 2023 becoming the warmest year ever recorded: July and August were the two warmest months recorded.
Focusing on Europe, 2023 was the second warmest year since records began (behind 2020), with 1.02°C above the 1991-2020 average.
For some scientists, the measurements indicate that the Earth was already more than 1°C warmer than in the pre-industrial era.
Furthermore, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere were high enough to ensure that temperatures would remain high for a long time.
Even in the most optimistic future scenarios, where humans stop burning fossil fuels and reduce other greenhouse gas emissions, it is highly likely that the global average temperature will remain at least 1°C above pre-industrial temperatures.
Others estimate that this variant could last much longer, perhaps for several centuries.
The measures have not been sufficient, and a promising future is not in sight.
