A scorching heatwave that began around mid-August soared to its peak on Wednesday in Italy’s northern Milan, with temperatures reaching a record high of 33 Celsius (91.4 Fahrenheit). That made it the hottest day since the Milano Brera weather station started recording temperatures in 1763, beating its previous record of 32.8 C set on Aug. 11, 2003, the regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA)said on Friday.
Milan is in north-western Italy, in the Po Valley, a plain closed on three sides by the Alps and the Apennines. It has a temperate continental climate, cold and damp in winter and hot and muggy in summer. The city’s annual average temperature is 3.5 degrees C, but it often rises to over 30 degrees C in summer.
The sweltering conditions in Milan, the capital of the Lombardy region, result from a combination of factors. The most important is human-caused global warming. The world is already hotter than it has been for the past century, and the effects of global warming are being felt far and wide, from Texas to California and across Asia.
According to a new study, the world’s oceans are also spiking to a record high temperature. The researchers based their calculations on ships, weather stations, and ocean buoy data. They then used a model to estimate global surface temperatures and considered other variables such as sea-surface wind patterns and air pressure.
The results showed that the sea surface temperature of the eastern Pacific was about 1.4 degrees Celsius above average and a new record for the oceans as a whole. At the same time, the Atlantic was a degree above normal. The researchers said that the increase in temperatures is probably a result of both a weakening of the subtropical jet and the strengthening of an El Nino, which is bringing more warm water to the surface of the oceans.
Moreover, a weaker-than-normal westerly airflow pushes the warm surface water from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back again. This creates a pattern of elongated, intense heat waves across the globe.
The researchers say that the global temperature will likely remain above average throughout this year and next as the El Nino effect and human-caused climate change combine. They expect the global average surface temperature to continue to increase by about a degree per decade over the coming century, although there will also be occasional cooler periods. In addition, extreme heat events will likely increase, with a record number of people experiencing dangerously hot and humid weather this year in the US, Mexico, and other countries. The heat is also causing wildfires in the western United States. This week, excessive heat warnings are in place in portions of Oregon, inland northern California, and central Texas. Heat advisories are also in place in southern Florida and Arizona. Extreme weather is a health hazard for those who suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems.
