Extreme heat: in Europe it has caused more than 20 thousand deaths

Summer 2022 was there more warm ever in Europe e the second deadliest after that of 2003. More than 20 thousand people died due to the waves of extreme heat that hit the continent, bringing very high temperatures. The data published by the French Institute of Public Health and the group of scientists of the World weather attribution underline once again the concrete threats of the global warming induced by human activities.

Between June and August 2022, thethermal anomaly has exceeded the average by 1.4 degreeswith i thermometers up in some countries, including Italy, even 2.06 degrees. In some places in Spain it reached 44 degrees, in France 42 and in London 40. According to the Guardian in Wales temperatures exceeded the seasonal average by 3.7 degrees. A record heat and lethalimpossible to reach without the effects of the climate crisiswhich gave summer 2022 the record for the hottest ever according to the institute Copernicus.

The Threshold of 20 thousand dead it was surpassed with the arrival of data from France, one of the countries most affected by deaths due to extreme heat. According to theInstitute of Public Healththe French counterpart of our Higher Institute of Health, during the summer of 2022 there were over 10,000 more dead compared to the previous year, of which almost 3,000 occurred during one of the three intense heat waves that hit the country.

In high countries the count is lower, though nonetheless above average. In Spain and Germany the deaths due to the heat were more than 4,000, in the United Kingdom about 3,000, while in Italy, the partial data relating to only 33 cities indicate for now only 733 deaths. A macabre budget and of completely human responsibilityalthough there is still little awareness of the dangers that extreme temperatures pose to human health.

This is confirmed by the findings of the World weather attributionwhich point out how “The observed heat waves have been made more probable or more intense because of human emissions of greenhouse gases”. Waves that are becoming more frequent and represent one of the major threats of climate change, causing thousands of deaths around the world.