The Week Junior UK – 03 August 2019

O

n25J uly,temperaturesintheUKandacross

Europe reachedrecord highswhenlargepartsof

thecontinentwereaffectedbyaseriousheatwave.

Whathappened in Europe?

ManyEuropeancountriesexperiencedtheir

hottestdaysonrecord .Int heFrenchcapital,Paris,

temperaturessoaredtoasweltering42.6°C,br eaking

theprevioushighof40.7°C,whichwassetin1947.

TheGermantownofLingensetanationalrecord

with42.6°C,andintheNetherlandstemperatures

climbedhigherthan40°Cforthefirsttime.The

continentexperiencedhightemperaturesbecause

ofhotairmovingnorthfromAfrica,butitwasn’tjust

Europethatwasaffectedbythesizzlingheatwave.

ThehotairreachedtheArcticCircle,sparking

wildfiresinpartsofGreenland,RussiaandtheUS

stateofAlaska.ThesmokefromlargefiresinRussia

couldbeseenfromspace.

Whatwas it likeint he UK?

TemperaturessoaredacrosstheUKduringthe

heatwave.On25July,CambridgeBotanicGarden

record edatemperatureof3 8.7°C–anewrecord

fortheUK.Theaveragehighestdailytemperatures

duringthesummerforCambridgeshireare20–23°C.

TheUK’ sprevioushighesttemperaturewas38.5°C,

reachedinFaversham,Kent,in2003.Scotlandalso

haditshottestdayoftheyear,whentemperatures

inEdinburghgotupto31.6°C.Duringtheheatwave,

thunderstormsstruckpartsofthecountry.Ont he

nightof23July,around48,000lightningstrikes

wererecorded.

Whywasitsohot?

Europehashadheatwavesbefore,butweather

expertssaytheyarehappeningmore

oftenbecauseofclimatechange.Clim

changereferstothelong-termchange

worldweatherpatterns,suchasrising

temperatures.Humanactivitiessuch

asburningfossilfuels(coal,oiland

gas),farmingandcuttingdown

forestsaremajorcauses.Thetop

10warmestyearsonrecord inthe

UKhaveallhappenedsince2002,

accord ingtonewstudiesbytheMet

Office(aUKorganisationthatprovide

weatherforecasts).

Howdid it affect people?

NetworkRail,whichcontrolsmostoftheUK’srailway

lines,saidoverheadpowercablesmelted,delaying

services.InBelgium,upto700passengersonthe

internationalEurostarservicehadto waitattheside

ofthetrackbecausethepowerontheirtrainfailed.

Temperaturesinsidethetrainreachedanestimated

60 °Caftertheairconditioningstoppedworking.

HolidaymakersatHeathrowandGatwickairports

spentthenightsleepingonthefloorwhentheirflights

werecancelledbecauseofthunderstorms.

Howdid people stay safe?

TheUK’ sNationalHealth

Servic e(NHS)warned

parentstokeepbabies

outofdirectsunlightand

tokeepotherchildren

outofthesunasmuch

aspossible.Homeless

charitieshelpedpeople

sleepingonthestreets,and

peoplewereaskedtolook

aftertheelderly.

The Week Junior•3August 2019

This week’s big news

Hightemperaturesbreak

recordsacrossEurope

2

Zookeepers worked hardto

look after their animals during

the heatwave.Staff at Drusillas

ParkZooinEast Sussexused

blocksoficeto helpcool the

animals down. Manyzoos

gave their animals special ice

lollies–the penguins atLondon

Zooweregiven ones made

from fish. Cat and dog owners

werewarned not to leave their

animals in hotcars, and wildlife

charities asked people to put

water outforhedgehogs and

other wild creatures.

Keeping animalscool

in the hotweather

Aboy jumps intoapool

in Bielefeld, Germany.

HOT,

HOT,

HOT

Thehighes

trecorded

temperatur

einEurope is

48

°C,whichwas measur

ed

inAthens, in Gr

eece,

in July 19

77.

ate

esin

ng

s

Meerkats eat

frozen treats.