All language subtitles for D D S01E09 Heatwaves 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD2 0 H 264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Across America and Europe,

heat waves claim more lives

than any other type
of extreme weather event,

making this one of Mother
Nature’s most deadly disasters.

Temperatures in places
like Saudi Arabia

routinely exceed
40 degrees Celsius

with few ill effects
to the population.

But when people in Russia
were subjected

to the same extreme heat,

it killed an estimated
56,000 people.

A heat wave occurs when
high pressure strengthens

and remains over a region
for several days

or up to several weeks.

Under high pressure,

the air sinks
toward the surface,

causing the ground
to become warm and dry.

This warmer, sinking air
creates a dome effect,

trapping high humidity
and warm air below,

resulting in
a progressive buildup of heat

at the surface.

When Europe experienced
scorching temperatures

between July and August 2003,

it resulted in the deaths
of an estimated 70,000 people.

During the Russian heat wave
of 2010,

as temperatures soared
to over 40 degrees Celsius,

the unprecedented hot spell
left 56,000 people dead.

But as Europe was struck by
yet another heat wave in 2018,

it has forced us to ask:

Are these extreme temperatures

something we are going to have
to get used to?

There is no exact definition
of a heat wave.

It rather depends
on which country you’re in

and where you are.

But the World Meteorological
Organization

has a definition that says:

"A heat wave is when there
is a maximum daily temperature

"five degrees higher
than the local

normal maximum temperature,"

and that’s every day
for five days.

Sometimes you can also
not just look at temperature

but look at the combination
of temperature and humidity.

So heat stress, which is more--
Which affects the human body.

So that would also be a common
definition of a heat wave.

It really depends on
who is in harm’s way,

how you define the heat wave,

or where
your vulnerability lies,

what a heat wave consists of.

For example,
a colleague of mine,

when we were talking about
the heat wave in Montreal,

and in Montreal,
people were dying

with a heat wave
where temperatures

were about 35 degrees Celsius.

And he then said,
"Well, show me one Indian

who will die at 34 degrees."
In Indian cities,

that’s a very average
and normal temperature.

So a heat wave
in any Indian city

would only be
if it’s 45 or higher.

If you look at a weather map,

usually you will see
patterns of low pressure

and high pressure
around the globe.

You’ll be familiar
with those

and the winds blowing
around them.

A high-pressure system
in the northern hemisphere

is one where the air
is circulating clockwise

and sinking in the middle.

A low-pressure system,
on the other hand,

is one where it’s circulating
anti-clockwise

and rising in the middle.

That’s just
the normal way of things.

And those weather patterns
move around the globe,

perhaps crossing each place
every three days or so.

Sometimes, however,
the patterns will get stuck.

And in particular, you can
get high-pressure systems

stuck over the continent.

And when that happens,
that’s called a blocking high.

And when they stay there for
days or possibly even weeks,

they can have a big influence
on the local weather

and in particular,
in summer,

they can cause heat waves.

Because the centers
of high-pressure areas

are usually cloud-free,

when direct sunlight shines
through clear blue skies,

daytime temperatures
rise further.

One of the biggest hazards of
heat waves is to human health.

While no one is truly immune
to the effects of a heat wave,

it is often the most vulnerable
among us

that will suffer
the greatest consequences.

This could be the very old
or very young,

the obese or overweight,

or those that have
already fallen ill.

It can also increase
your risk of dying

from preexisting conditions

like heart
and breathing problems.

There will be signs
when a body

is not managing
to cope with the heat.

You may suffer cramps due to
overexertion in hot conditions.

They are not
particularly dangerous

but can be the first sign

that you are having
trouble with the heat.

Continued exposure to the heat
can lead to heat exhaustion.

Body weight will diminish

as excess sweating results
in significant losses of fluid.

This causes dehydration.

A lack of blood flow
to the vital organs

will also cause the sufferer
to experience a mild shock.

If left untreated,

the condition will
gradually worsen.

The body’s temperature
will continue to rise

and may eventually result
in a heatstroke.

Heatstroke,
or sunstroke,

is a life-threatening
condition.

The sufferer’s natural
thermoregulation system

completely shuts down,

causing such severe
body temperatures

that brain damage
or death may occur.

Ordinarily, human bodies
will get rid of heat

by varying the rate and depth
of blood circulation,

evaporating water from the skin
through sweating

or, as a last resort, panting.

Blood, which carries
a lot of heat,

is pumped away
from your internal organs

and towards the outside
of your body.

Blood vessels widen to
accommodate the increased flow.

That’s why your skin tends
to get red when you’re hot.

Your sweat glands begin
to release water

onto the surface
of the skin.

Humans have 2 to 4 million
sweat glands

and can release more than
1 liter of sweat per hour.

Sweating cools you down

because the heat energy
needed

to evaporate the water
from your skin

is extracted from the blood
beneath its surface.

But if you fail to replace
the liquids

that have been expelled
through sweat,

you will start to produce
less sweat,

causing a decrease
in the cooling effect.

Also, if the weather
is very hot and humid,

you won’t be able to sweat fast
enough to cool your body down.

We define heat waves in terms
of extreme temperature,

but actually,
how people feel it

will also depend
on the local humidity.

If it’s very humid and damp,
it’s more difficult to sweat,

and that makes you feel the heat
worse than if it’s dry.

The elderly don’t have very
efficient circulatory systems,

and so it is harder for them
to regulate their temperature.

They are also less mobile
and may find it harder

to move to a cooler room
or fetch a cold drink.

Old lady, lives alone,
she hasn’t eaten for two days

because she doesn’t feel like
eating because of the heat.

She’s not drinking enough,

she’s sleeping at night
with a 12-tog duvet.

It’s absolute classic.
The radiator was on in her flat

because she feels the cold.

Old people get neuropathy
in their fingers and feet,

and the extremities
do feel cold,

but they cook like we all do.

Babies and young children sweat

far less than adults,

limiting their body’s ability
to cool itself.

But they also generate
more heat through exercise.

Overexertion on a hot day

can also cause
severe problems.

And when these blistering
temperatures continue

over several days,

night temperatures may not cool

as they normally would.

Every day, there’s
a maximum in temperature

during the afternoon and
a minimum temperature at night.

And in a heat wave,
that’s also the case.

But if the minimum temperature
during the night

is not cool enough
that people’s bodies

can get better from the heat
they suffered during the day,

that makes the effect
even worse

than it would have been
otherwise.

Humidity is very important

in the way heat wave
affects the human body.

So if a heat wave just consists
of high temperatures

but the air is very dry,
then the human body can sweat

and gets cooled down
through that.

And so the body is much better
able to deal with the heat,

as if it was a humid heat wave

where the air
is already very humid,

so sweating
is much less effective

than it would be
in dry surroundings.

Temperatures in cities

can often be 6 degrees Celsius
higher

than the surrounding
countryside.

This is because tarmac
and concrete store heat

and gradually release it
at night,

causing what is known as
the urban heat island effect.

Fortunately,
many cities contain

public air-conditioned spaces

such as local libraries
or recreation centers,

allowing people a safe place
to escape the heat.

Poor air quality in
the stagnant, hot atmosphere

that accompanies a heat wave

can lead to breathing
difficulties

in vulnerable people.

That irritates the lung
linings when we breathe it in,

so that means people who have

preexisting respiratory
conditions...

Asthma, COPD.

...they’re possibly going
to feel some effects today.

Heat waves occur
all over the globe,

with some areas of the world

experiencing these
extreme weather events

on a yearly basis.

But Third World countries
suffer disproportionately,

especially the poor,

as they are often unable
to cultivate crops,

find clean water or get
proper medical attention.

In a heat wave,

high temperatures
are maintained

over a period of several days

and don’t drop much at night.

In the developed world,
this leads

to an increased use
of air conditioning,

leading to spikes
in electricity demand

and power shortages.

This increased demand can cause
substations to overheat

and shut down completely,

cutting off air conditioning
to thousands of people

at the time they need it most.

If a heat wave continues
for a longer period,

roads can also be affected.

The heat causes them to buckle,
and the tarmac may even melt.

A prolonged heat wave may also
lead to conditions of drought.

Droughts can affect vast
territorial regions

and large population numbers.

They also have
environmental impacts

that increase the risk
of other natural disasters,

such as fire.

In the heat, forests and shrubs
as well as agricultural areas

can become very dry,
making it possible

for forest or brush fires
to start.

Without rain, these fires
can spread over large areas

and rage for days,

causing loss of life and damage
or destruction of crops,

as well as homes and property.

An area where vegetation
has been killed off

through lack of water
or wildfires

is then much more susceptible
to flash floods,

landslides and debris flow.

Continuous heat
and drought conditions

take a major toll
on soil health,

causing the earth
to dry up and crack.

Strong winds can then pick up
the loose, cracked soil

and carry it
for hundreds of kilometers.

With the topsoil removed,

the fertility of agricultural
land is greatly reduced.

In the United States,

heat waves are responsible
for more deaths per year

than hurricanes, lightning,

tornadoes, floods
and earthquakes combined.

In the past 30 to 40 years,

there has been
an increasing trend

in high-humidity heat waves,

which involve extremely high
nighttime temperatures.

In recent years, we see

a statistically significant
increase

in the number of heat waves
around the globe,

but also in
the intensity of heat waves.

As global warming takes effect,

the average temperature’s
warming up,

but also the extremes
are warming up.

So in particular, a heat wave

that only would’ve occurred
perhaps once in a hundred years

is becoming
more and more frequent.

For example, something in
the 1950s that would have been,

just say, 1 percent chance
of happening

is now about 10 percent chance
of happening.

And we think by 2050,
it’ll be just normal.

One factor
in what causes heat waves

is what we would call
external forcing.

And external forcing is
the amount of greenhouse gases

in the atmosphere, and thus
the overall global temperature.

And when global temperatures
are increasing,

then also local temperatures
are increasing.

And so we see a higher frequency
in heat waves

and a lower frequency
in cold waves.

There have been many deadly
heat waves in recent times.

More than 220 people died
in North America in July 2006,

as temperatures climbed to more
than 48 degrees Celsius.

At its height,
a peak temperature

of 54 degrees Celsius
was recorded in South Dakota.

In Europe,
the deadliest single heat wave

ever to strike was in 2003.

During its summer months,

the entire continent suffered

exceptionally hot,
dry weather.

Temperatures reached
over 40 degrees Celsius,

with the death toll
being estimated

at over 30,000 people.

Using information collected
from ice cores and tree rings,

scientists have even worked out
that the summer of 2003

was Europe’s hottest
since 1540,

nearly 500 years ago.

France was badly hit,

with estimates putting the
death toll at around 14,000.

One of the biggest killers
during the heat wave

was stagnant air,
which accumulated pollutants

and other toxins,
causing respiratory failure.

Dehydration and heat accounted

for thousands
of premature deaths,

particularly older citizens
and the very young.

The severe heat wave in Europe

began in June 2003

and continued until mid-August.

Temperatures were
20 to 30 percent higher

than the seasonal average,

and extended over a large
portion of the continent,

from northern Spain
to the Czech Republic,

and from Germany to Italy.

Even nightly temperatures
were higher

than the average
summer midday highs.

Extreme maximum temperatures
of 35 to 40 degrees Celsius

were recorded
on various occasions

during the month
of July to August

in most of the Southern
and Central European countries.

Temperatures in France
were particularly severe

throughout the month of August,
with small, landlocked cities

in the central
and southern regions

experiencing record heat waves

of up to 47 degrees Celsius.

Record-breaking
maximum temperatures

were also experienced
in Germany, Switzerland

and Portugal.

In the U.K,

a searing 38.5 degrees Celsius

was recorded
in Brogdale, Kent,

on the 10th of August, 2003,

a record which has
since to be broken.

This extreme weather
came as a result

of high pressure becoming
stuck over Western Europe,

barring the Atlantic Ocean’s
rain-bearing depressions

from entering the continent.

With little moisture
in the air,

the skies were
generally cloudless,

allowing the sun to further
bake the land and sea.

In Switzerland,

June was the hottest month
ever recorded

in 250 years of archiving.

A temperature record
of 41.5 degrees Celsius

was reached on
the 11th of August in Grono,

located in the Italian-speaking
south of the country.

Drought affected
much of Europe,

with no rainfall for weeks

resulting in forest fires
breaking out in many countries,

with more than 25,000 fires
recorded.

Portugal was the worst hit.

Nearly 6 percent of its forest
area was destroyed,

over 3900 square kilometers,

covering an area nearly
twice the size of Luxembourg.

With the protection
of the forest gone,

millions of tons
of topsoil and ash

eventually washed away
into rivers,

badly affecting
the quality of the water.

All over Europe,
drought ravaged forests,

with trees suffering dieback
in subsequent years

due to the lack of water.

Weakened trees were also
more prone

to disease
and pest infestation.

And the lack of rainfall

led to desperately low levels
of water in Europe’s rivers.

In Serbia,
the river Danube fell

to its lowest level
in 100 years.

People were shocked
when World War II bombs

which had been submerged
under the river for decades

were now exposed
by the receding water.

Numerous rivers
as well as reservoirs dried up.

This led to shortages in the
water supply to the population

and a decreased output
from hydroelectric plants.

Throughout the European Alps,

there was exceptional melting
of snow and glaciers,

which led to many
mountainous regions

experiencing rock and ice falls.

Alpine glaciers shrank
by 10 percent over the summer.

The unusually hot weather

resulted in an exceptional
reduction of glacier depth.

It was nearly double that
of 1998,

the previous record year,

and around five times more
than the average lost

in the 20 years
between 1980 and 2000.

Thawing of normal permanently
frozen parts of the mountains

reached greater depths
and occurred

at higher altitudes
than before.

In Switzerland,
melting snow and ice

brought about the collapse
of a rock face

on the iconic Matterhorn.

Climbers had to be evacuated
and all activity was suspended

while geologists evaluated the
safety of the mountain face.

Mont Blanc, which on
an average summer’s day

may see 300 climbers,
was shut for the first time

since it was conquered in 1786.

The heat wave made Europe’s
highest peak so unstable

that it was deemed
too dangerous to climb.

Glaciologists estimated
that it would need

30 to 40 meters
of fresh snow,

which would normally take
several harsh winters to fall,

to replace the snow and ice
that had melted that summer.

But some experts believe
that the damage done

to the alpine environment
will never be repaired.

The loss of snow and ice
has another serious effect:

Sun hitting white snow
reflects back into space.

But sun hitting gray rock
is absorbed further,

heating up the ground.

The length of time, as well as
the ferocity of the heat,

proved deadly to thousands
of people across Europe,

and exposed the vulnerability
of a population

unprepared for such
an extreme weather event.

Mortality rose so much that
mortuaries could no longer cope

with the growing number
of bodies.

When space eventually ran out,

temporary mortuaries were set
up in refrigeration lorries.

In the United Kingdom,

there were around
2000 fatalities.

Portugal lost over 2000 people,

including 19 who perished
in forest fires.

In Italy,
more than 4000 died,

with exceptionally
high humidity blamed

for the large number
of fatalities.

And in Germany, 7000 died,

making it the worst
natural disaster

in the country’s history.

And it wasn’t only humans
that died in the extreme heat.

Many farm animals like
chickens, pigs and cows

perished as well.

Farming as an industry
was hugely affected.

Vegetation growth
across Europe was reduced

during the dry and hot summer
by about 30 percent.

Crop yields were
greatly reduced.

The heat wave is thought
to have cost European farming

13.1 billion euros.

It also led
to higher food prices.

At most rivers,
extreme low flows

as well as unusually high water
temperatures were recorded.

Low flows affected
nuclear generating facilities,

which all had to operate
at reduced capacities.

The small nuclear power plant
of Obrigheim

on the Neckar River
was completely turned off

due to insufficient
cooling water.

Low water in most
of Europe’s large rivers

made navigation by ships
difficult or impossible.

The major European
transport routes

along the Danube and Rhine
basins ceased to function.

Rivers like the Po,
the Elbe

and the Oder were severely
affected as well.

Land transport around Europe
was hit as well.

Some railway tracks buckled
in the heat.

Network Rail in the U.K.
imposed speed restrictions

for trains when the temperature
rose above 30 degrees Celsius.

This was to avoid trains
derailing

when railway lines
might have been damaged

and led to severe delays
and cancellations.

The London Underground,
much of which runs

without air conditioning
for passengers,

became dangerously hot.

But the 2003 heat wave
will be remembered primarily

because of the high levels
of mortality.

Following the disaster,

a joint Met Office-Department
of Health project

called the Heat-Health Watch

now gives advanced warning
of U.K. hot weather,

while the French government
has made efforts

to improve its prevention,
surveillance and alert system.

The need for governments
to plan for extreme heat waves

was further justified in
the light of subsequent events

which occurred during
the summer of 2010.

Throughout that fateful summer,

vast swathes of
the northern hemisphere

were impacted
by severe heat,

including most
of the United States,

parts of Europe, Africa,
Asia and the Middle East.

The heat wave shattered
all previous records

both in terms of temperature

and the expanse
of the area affected.

Temperatures were between
6.7 and 13.3 degrees Celsius

above the average,
and the heat wave covered

around 2 million
square kilometers.

Ten countries around the world
broke their records

for the highest temperature
ever recorded.

The heat was the most intense
in Myanmar and Pakistan,

which both recorded the highest
temperature ever seen in Asia,

a searing 53.5 degrees Celsius.

Kuwait recorded its hottest
temperature in history,

with an astonishing
52.6 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures in Basra, Iraq,

reached 52 degrees Celsius,

its hottest day ever.

Saudi Arabia suffered
a double blow.

Not only did sandstorms

cause eight power plants
to shut down,

blacking out several cities,

but this happened
at the same time

as Jeddah sweltered
in 52-degrees heat,

the highest temperature ever
experienced in the Kingdom.

The heat wave
also reached Africa,

where Sudan was blasted
by 49.6 degrees Celsius.

Relative to average temperatures,

the most severely affected
was Russia,

where an extraordinary
heat wave brought

the world’s largest country
to its knees.

Temperatures in Moscow soared

to 38.2 degrees Celsius
in the daytime,

and didn’t fall much
through the night.

But it was in Yashkul,
near the Kazakhstan border,

that the temperature soared
to 44 degrees Celsius,

the highest ever recorded
in Russia.

The 2010 heat wave in Russia
was caused

by a "blocking high"
situation.

A blocking high
pressure system

is a high-pressure system

that stays over a particular
place for a very long time,

and it blocks
low-pressure systems

that would bring fresh air
into the area.

The 2010 Russian heat wave
was an example

where there was
a very strong stationary

or blocking high-pressure system
for a very long time.

It was basically centered
around Moscow, but had a very--

It was a very large system

and affected
a large part of Europe.

There’s two things
about high-pressure systems.

One is that
the air is sinking,

and so there tends to be
less cloud.

But the other thing is
that because the air

is very, very slowly moving,

it tends to be trapped
near the surface.

Because it’s sinking
and slowly moving, it’s trapped.

So any pollution
that’s produced at the surface

tends to stay there.

And if the high pressure
stays there,

pollution is accumulating
and accumulating,

and it’s getting worse
and worse.

Another one
of the major factors

in the record-breaking
heat wave

was the position
of the jet stream.

The jet stream
is a flow of strong winds

high in the atmosphere,

flowing from west to east
around the globe.

And as it goes,
it drives the weather patterns,

so the lows and highs
of the weather patterns

are driven along
by the jet stream.

The jet stream meanders.

It flows to and fro,
like a wave.

And the highs and lows
follow it in that way.

Sometimes, if it gets
particularly deviating,

it can be associated
with a blocking high system.

And if you look
at the Russian situation

with the heat waves in 2010,

what happened was that
the jet stream meandered

quite a lot
off its normal track

and placed a large
high pressure system

right over Central and
Eastern Europe and Russia,

causing the heat waves
that occurred in that year.

As well as stifling
temperatures,

the heat wave in Russia caused
the worst drought in 130 years.

A toxic smog that shrouded
major cities,

particularly Moscow,
added to the misery.

We have to stay
in the room of the hotel.

So we go out just a few hours
per day because of the smog.

Forest fires burned
out of control,

and there were severe
losses to agriculture,

forestry and infrastructure.

In all, this deadly disaster
claimed thousands of lives.

An estimated 56,000
more Russians

died during the heat wave

than in the same period
the previous year.

Lack of water resulted
in the failure

of around 90,000 square
kilometers of crops.

In total,
the cost of the heat wave

to Russia’s
agriculture industry

ran to about
15 billion U.S. dollars.

As well as intense heat,

people in the big cities
had to contend

with eye-watering levels
of pollution.

So if you get a high-pressure
system sitting over a city,

you’ve got the local pollution,
particularly from cars,

and that’s going to trap these
pollutants into the local area.

And as that accumulates
over days,

you begin to see the air
becoming hazier.

You’ll be familiar
with the sort of yellowish color

associated with high-pressure
stagnant air patches.

This air is not only unpleasant
to look at,

it’s also unpleasant and bad
for your health to breathe.

Air pollution
in the big industrial cities

just wouldn’t disperse.

In Moscow, the city’s
environmental protection agency

warned the population

that the concentrations
of carbon monoxide

were five times higher
than acceptable levels,

while particle matter pollution

was three times
above safe limits.

Added to this toxic mix
was another foul ingredient:

the smoke
from forest and peat fires.

The heat wave peaked
throughout July

and into the first half
of August.

This coincided exactly

with the worst period
for peat and forest fires.

As the temperatures soared,

fires ripped through
the dry vegetation

and spread rapidly.

These fires
were probably started

through careless actions
as people lit barbecues

in the tinder-dry forests.

Throughout July 2010,

over 40 peat fires broke out

to the south
and east of Moscow.

These fires claimed 52 lives,

destroyed property

and left over 3000 people
homeless.

The heavy smoke disrupted
flights into Moscow.

At Domodedovo Airport,
visibility on the runways

was down to about 370 meters.

Artillery rockets housed at
a military base in Alabinsk,

about 72 kilometers southwest
of Moscow,

were moved to a safer location
away from the fires.

Even more alarmingly,

fires approached a nuclear
research facility in Sarov,

about 500 kilometers
east of Moscow,

where nuclear material
had to be moved.

After wildfires destroyed
a naval base

on the outskirts of Moscow,
then-president Dmitry Medvedev

sacked several
top military officials.

In July 2010,

with pollution levels in Moscow

five times greater than normal,

over 14,000 deaths
were recorded.

At one point, there were
roughly 700 deaths per day,

twice the normal
mortality rate.

As haze and smoke spread
through Moscow’s streets,

visibility was reduced
to 50 meters in some areas.

The acrid smoke seeped

into apartment buildings
and offices.

Fumes even sank down
into the metro network.

Doctors warned the people
of Moscow to remain at home.

Those that did venture out

clutched handkerchiefs
to their faces

or wore masks,
some even keeping them on

when they got back indoors.

Well-known tourist sites

such as the Ostankino
television tower

and Saint Basil’s Cathedral

were only dimly visible
through the smoky haze,

as the sun, a faint yellow
sphere hanging in the smog,

continued to roast the town.

Desperate people tried
to find some respite

from the intense heat,

but this led
to even more deaths.

The acrid cocktail of smoke
and pollutants

caused many Muscovites

to flee their homes
or workplaces

and hunt out
air-conditioned malls,

cinemas and other public buildings.

But the weak and the elderly
were not so fortunate.

Ambulance services reported

that emergency calls
were up 10 percent,

while paramedics were
reported to have fainted

in sweltering
ambulance vehicles.

At the same time,
hospitals canceled

all non-emergency operations.

Many patients chose to go home

because of the stifling heat
in wards

without air conditioning
or fans.

In an effort to stem the
choking levels of pollution,

factories in Moscow were asked
to temporarily cut emissions

by as much as 40 percent.

The fact that
the 2010 heat wave

followed only seven years
after the devastation of 2003

seemed to signal
a worrying trend

of extreme hot-weather events.

But how does the 2010 heat wave
compare to that of 2003?

In most respects,

it was more extreme than
the one seven years earlier,

both in terms of its severity

and the sheer scale
of the area affected.

The heat wave in 2003
was centered

very much over the more
western part of Europe,

whereas the 2010 one was more
over the eastern part of Europe.

And the 2010 heat wave,
there was also a large drought.

So the combination
of heat and drought

had a huge impact on, um...

On yields in the area.

That was not
so much the case in 2003,

where the strongest impact
of the heat waves

was really on human health.

There is a probability
that parts of Russia

are on the verge of a period
in which extreme heat events

will happen more frequently.

But it isn’t only Russia
that needs to brace itself

for more frequent
extreme hot-weather events.

It’s certainly true
that there’s more heat waves

occurring across the globe now

than there were earlier
in my career.

So one that I experienced
personally was in the U.K.,

it was in 1976,

when it was extremely hot
and dry during the summer.

And that was quite--
Very, very unusual.

And now we seem
to be experiencing

those sort of things
much more often.

If 2018 is anything to go by,

the heat waves will be
a widespread scourge.

From May 2018,
a vast ridge of high pressure

sat across the majority
of Northern Europe,

reaching from Ireland,

across the United Kingdom

and right over to Scandinavia.

The enormous lump
of high pressure

blocked all other
weather systems.

Much-needed cool air was pushed
down over Southern Europe.

Europe taken as a whole
had its warmest May

and second warmest
June in continental records

dating back to 1910.

The normally cool countries
in Scandinavia

were blasted by
extraordinary heat.

All-time record-high
temperatures were recorded

at three locations in Sweden,

10 in Finland and 14 in Norway.

In Sweden, the heat wave
wasn’t the only problem.

In July 2018,
the Swedish government called

for international help
to tackle a series of blazes

across the country that were
raging out of control.

A country more used to dealing
with the extremes

of winter cold and snow
now found itself

having to cope
with extreme summer weather.

As temperatures soared,
rainfall dried up

to only one-seventh
of the expected amount,

the lowest since
record-keeping began

in the late 19th century.

With flows in the rivers
and lakes falling

to exceptional lows,
Sweden faced water shortages.

And after the months
of drought,

followed by weeks
of sweltering heat,

the nation’s forests
had become tinderboxes.

More than 60 separate wildfires
broke out,

12 of them in Swedish Lapland
within the Arctic Circle,

where the temperature reached
more than 33 degrees Celsius,

the highest ever recorded
in that polar region.

Many villages threatened
by the infernos

were forced to be evacuated.

The Swedish Armed Forces

and the Home Guard
were called in to help.

But the nation famous
for its cold and snow

found itself unable to cope

with the fires
raging within its border

and made an appeal
for help from abroad.

Norway and Italy
both answered the call,

sending airborne
firefighting teams.

Italy sent two planes to Sweden
to dump water on the blazes

while Norway, which itself
had been hit by wildfires,

supplied eight helicopters
to help battle Sweden’s blazes.

The exceptional heat wave
drove Swedes

to attempt to cool down
in the ocean.

Between May and July,

the Swedish Sea Rescue Society

mounted 651 rescue operations
across the country,

the highest number for that
period since records began.

As more people were attracted

to Sweden’s lakes
and coastline,

the number of deaths by
drowning showed a marked spike.

In May and June alone,
39 people perished.

And the number of children who
lost their lives in the water

during those two months
was equal

to the whole of the previous
year’s fatalities.

In France, nuclear reactors
were forced to close

because of the soaring
temperatures.

Several French cities
were blighted

by high levels of pollution
caused by the heat wave.

Authorities were forced
to impose traffic bans

to try and ease the problem.

In the capital city of Paris,

cheaper daily metro
and bus passes were offered

to discourage people
from driving.

Meanwhile in Portugal,

more than 700 firefighters
struggled to contain

a major wildfire

in the southern coastal region
of the Algarve.

As temperatures reached
46 degrees Celsius in places,

threatening Portugal’s national
record of 47.4 degrees Celsius,

the fire spread through
a eucalyptus forest

and dense undergrowth.

Mindful of the dozens
of people killed

in terrible fires
the previous year,

Portugal’s civil protection
agency attempted to avoid

a similar tragedy by
sending out mobile text alerts

warning of
the extreme fire risks.

Temperatures in Spain
continued to soar,

and seven people were reported
to have died from heatstroke.

Wildfires raged
in the south of the country

and in the center,
near the capital city, Madrid,

as well as in the west
near Extremadura,

a region close
to the Portuguese border,

and in Catalonia, which
borders France in the north.

Even at night,

the population continued
to suffer

in dangerous heat.

The town of Zorita
in the southwest

recorded an astonishing
midnight temperature

of 35.1 degrees Celsius,

Spain’s highest ever
midnight temperature.

In Germany, temperatures peaked
at 39 degrees Celsius.

For some, the unusually high
temperatures proved a blessing.

German wine growers thanked
the hot, dry weather

for a bumper harvest
which could be picked

two weeks earlier
than usual.

But for other Germans,

the heat wave brought
only misery.

In Gotteszell,
a town in Bavaria,

regional trains
had to be suspended

after railway tracks
warped in the extreme heat.

Forest fires raged
just 50 kilometers south

of the German capital, Berlin,

where firefighters struggled

to quell the largest blazes
in decades.

Fire crews,
many of them volunteers,

had their work complicated

by the presence of unexploded
hand grenades and shells,

which still littered
the forests around Berlin.

When a number of the World War
II munitions exploded,

firefighters were forced
to withdraw.

540 people from three villages
were forced to evacuate

as smoke and flames threatened
to engulf their homes.

Residents in Berlin were told
to keep windows and doors shut

and to turn off their
air-conditioning units

to help protect themselves
from the acrid fumes.

Helicopters tried
to quench the flames

by dropping water
from above.

Authorities even called
in police water cannons,

more commonly used to control

unruly crowds
and public disturbances,

which helped to eventually
contain the blaze.

In Greece,
scorching temperatures

that reached
over 40 degrees Celsius,

coupled with severe drought,

turned the hillside forests
into kindling.

Blazes started
in numerous locations,

fanned by the strongest winds
in eight years.

More than 90 people
were confirmed dead,

while many were still missing.

At least 300 homes in the
coastal villages near Athens

frequented by holidaymakers

were either destroyed
or severely damaged.

It was Monday,
the 23rd of July,

at 12.30 in the afternoon

that the first fire
alarm sounded in Kinetta,

a seaside town
around 50 kilometers west

of Greece’s capital, Athens.

Later that afternoon,

the authorities received
emergency calls

reporting flames near Rafina,
east of the capital.

Powerful winds gusting
at 120 kilometers per hour

whipped the flames
into a deadly wave of fire

which swept downhill towards
the quiet seaside town of Mati

like a volcanic flow.

The fire reached there
around 5:00 p.m.,

when many Greeks would be
having an afternoon nap

following lunches delayed
till 4:00 p.m.

because of the intense heat.

Hundreds of people were trapped

as flames threatened
to engulf them.

Many attempted to flee
in their cars

but were overtaken by fire
as they became hemmed in

on narrow roads
gridlocked by traffic.

Others fled
for the safety of the sea,

where they watched in horror
as their town burned.

Boats were mobilized

in a hurriedly organized
rescue operation.

Nearly 700 people were snatched
up from beaches,

and 19 picked out of the sea.

Rescuers retrieved six bodies
from the water.

The following day,
large numbers of fellow Greeks

descended on
the emergency headquarters.

They brought with them
clothing,

food, water
and other essentials.

Meanwhile, officials
and residents braced themselves

for the death toll
to climb higher

as rescue workers searched
for the missing

among some 2500 burned homes.

We don’t have any hope
to find any alive,

An hour before
from another street,

the next block from here,

they find the body
inside the house.

I think for the next days
we’ll continue to find bodies.

It’s a very huge area
that we have to search.

Emergency crews
had the terrible task

of combing through
incinerated dwellings

as well as
the burnt-out vehicles

that had been used by people
attempting to flee the fires.

Burnt-out vehicles marked
the path of the flames.

The heat had reached
such intensity

that cars had literally melted,

leaving pools of aluminum
and liquefied rubber.

By Wednesday,
two days after the inferno,

the death toll in Mati
stood at 80.

Frantic relatives attempted to
track down those still missing

from the horrific blaze.

Meanwhile, coroners began
the grim task

of identifying those bodies
that had been found.

The Greek prime minister,
who was out of the country

on a state visit to Bosnia,

was forced to return
to his stricken country.

He declared three days
of mourning.

The day after the fire,
he spoke in a televised address

about the grief of the nation

in the face
of an unbearable tragedy.

Citizens called on the
government to take swift action

so that survivors, many of whom
had lost everything,

could rebuild their lives.

A week after
the horrific fires,

people gathered outside
the Greek parliament

and held
a candlelight vigil.

Some blamed the high death toll

on the fact that many of
the homes which had burned down

had been illegally built
in wooded areas.

Searching for ways
to raise cash

in the wake
of the 2010 debt crisis,

the government had
apparently allowed owners

to keep their illegal houses
if they agreed to pay a fine.

But worryingly,
it wasn’t just Europe

that experienced heat waves
in 2018.

All across the world,

people were experiencing
record high temperatures.

A weather station at Ouargla
in the Algerian Sahara Desert

recorded the astonishing temperature

of 51.3 degrees Celsius,

the hottest
verified temperature

in the whole of Africa.

And for the population of Oman,
there was no relief.

Even when the sun went down,

the night temperature stayed
stiflingly hot.

In Canada, at least
54 deaths were attributed

to the prolonged heat wave
and high humidity in Quebec,

with Montreal seeing
a new record high temperature

of 36.6 degrees Celsius.

The statistics
surrounding heat waves

point to a worrying
trend of rising temperatures

and extreme hot-weather events
around the globe.

At the moment,
we already have warmed the world

by about 1 degree
since preindustrial times

through the burning
of fossil fuels

and buildup of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere.

And the Paris Agreement in 2015
said that--

Or the governments agreed

they want to try
and limit the warming

to 2 degrees or lower,
to 1.5 degrees.

To do that, we need to stop
burning fossil fuels

and emissions go towards zero.

And the different countries
have pledged their NDCs,

which is their National
Determined Contributions,

to reaching this goal.

And these pledges
at the moment are, however,

not low enough
or not high enough.

It’s a global problem

and, in particular,
the risk of heat wave

has already increased
quite a lot everywhere.

And, of course, we can adapt
to that to some degree,

but we can’t adapt
indefinitely.

And we can’t just move out
of all hot places.

Then there would not be
enough cool places left

where people would be
able to live

without a high risk
of heat waves.

At the moment,
the way that ordinary people

can access renewable energy
and clean motoring is not easy.

The assorted costs of buying
an electric vehicle

at the moment
are relatively high.

However, if we look
at the cost of photovoltaics,

of solar panels,
they have absolutely plummeted.

The costs have fallen
far faster

than any of the economists
predicted.

So for the ordinary person,
this is going to mean

that they’ll be able
to access renewable energy

in an affordable way.

So in terms of saving energy,

there’s things
that people can do.

So, I mean, the first thing
is to try and just use less.

So can you turn off the lights?
Can you turn off the heating?

There’s also things
like buying your energy

from a green provider,
so you’re buying from companies

that use renewable energy
and not fossil fuel energy.

Then there’s using different
transport systems.

So can you choose to walk today
or go on your bike,

rather than jumping in the car?

So there’s a number of things
that people can do

in their normal daily lives
to help the situation.

Having said that, we can’t be
expected to produce the answers.

It’s got to be the government
and policies and laws

that steer people
in the right behavior.

They need to be helped.

Scientists from

the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change

have recently predicted

that average global
temperatures could increase

by somewhere between
1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius

by the end of this century.

Changes as a result
of the Earth heating up

would include the melting
of the polar ice caps,

leading to a rise in sea levels
and widespread flooding.

Low-lying islands
in the Pacific

could vanish entirely,

with many coastal cities
disappearing beneath seawater.

There would be mass extinction
of animals

as their habitats are lost,

as well as an increase
in the occurrence and severity

of storms and other
extreme weather events,

like heat waves
and an increase in droughts,

leading to loss of agricultural
land and famine.

The results would be
catastrophic.

It would seem likely that more
record-breaking heat waves

await us in the future.

And should they persist,

these terrifying
and largely inescapable

increases in air temperature

will result
in devastating losses of life.

But whatever happens,
one thing is certain.

The heat wave is truly
one of Mother Nature’s

stealthiest and most
deadly disasters.