On Tuesday 19 July, the record for the daily maximum temperature in Britain was smashed by 1.6°C, reaching a scorching 40.3°C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire. Heatwaves that were once in the realm of extreme statistical anomaly are set to become regular occurrences due to climate change. These heatwaves, along with other climate and weather-related disasters – storms, floods, extreme cold, downpours and droughts – are becoming more frequent year-on-year on a planet suffering unmitigated, capitalism-induced climate change.
The heatwave was unprecedented but not unexpected. Climate scientists have for decades predicted an increase in the frequency and severity of heatwaves but even the experts were taken aback: ‘I wasn’t expecting to see this in my career but the UK has just exceeded 40°C for the first time,’ confessed Professor Stephen Belcher, Chief of Science and Technology at the Met Office, ‘Research conducted at the Met Office has stated that it is virtually impossible for the UK to experience 40°C in an undisrupted climate. Climate change driven by greenhouse gases has made these temperatures possible and we’re seeing that possibility now.’
The latest State of the UK climate report stated that ‘2020 was the third warmest, fifth wettest and eighth sunniest year on record’ and that ‘All the top 10 warmest years since 1884 have occurred since 2002’. It concluded that 2011-2020 was 0.5°C warmer on average than 1981-2010 and 1.1°C warmer than 1961-1990.
The record-breaking temperatures induced grass fires in suburbs across London, spreading to residential areas. Dozens of fire engines and over 400 firefighters were called to nine separate blazes in what the fire service described as its busiest day since World War II. Rail services suffered disruption as trains had to run slower to reduce the risk of derailment as rails bend and buckle in the heat. The whole of the East and Midlands mainlines were forced to close for the day. Thousands experienced power cuts in northeast England due to conductors sagging and transformers overheating. All flights leaving Luton airport were cancelled and landing planes were diverted because the tarmac on the runway had melted.
Across Europe, conditions were worse. In France, Spain and Portugal thousands of people died during July due to the heat and many tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate homes because of raging wildfires. The government of Italy declared a state of emergency in the north of the country as the Po River, a vital source of drinking water, irrigation and hydroelectric generation, dried up. Nor did the heatwave end, only migrate, as reported in the AP: ‘The vast heatwave covering swathes of Europe moved steadily eastwards on Thursday, forcing countries including Italy, Poland and Slovenia to issue their highest heatwave alerts as firefighters battled wildfires across the continent.’ In Greece, the country is alight with wildfires springing up from Dadia in the Northwest to Athens and the island of Lesbos, destroying homes and forcing evacuations.
Elsewhere:
- During mid-January 2022, several countries in South America, including Argentina, certain parts of Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay experienced a record-breaking heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 44 °C.
- In late June, Japan experienced its worst heatwave for 150 years.
- A record temperature for the Arctic Circle of 32.5°C was set in June at Banak in Norway; average June temperatures are around 13°C.
Early July brought Africa its hottest reliably measured temperature on record: 51.3°C, at Ouargla, Algeria. - A heatwave in India and Pakistan resulted in the hottest March in India since 1901 with temperatures reaching 45°C and extended into April, affecting large parts of India’s northwest and Pakistan. Combined with a drought, with rainfall being only a quarter to a third of normal, it has decimated forthcoming harvests in the subcontinent.
Across the world, heatwaves have become a norm. A study reported in The Climate Journal on February 2022 found that:
The average number of days between May and September with at least one large heatwave in the Northern Hemisphere doubled between the 1980s and the 2010s, from 73 to around 152.
- The number of days with two or more heatwaves was seven times higher, growing from 20 to roughly 143, or nearly every single day from May to September.
- These concurrent heatwaves affected larger areas and were more severe by the 2010s, with peak intensities that were almost one-fifth higher than in the 1980s.
Earth is experiencing a heatwave somewhere now practically every day – at a time when global warming has raised temperatures by 1.1 to 1.2°C. The consequences of a temperature rise of 1.5°C – the aim of the 2015 Paris climate conference – are potentially appalling. But trillions of dollars of planned investments in fossil fuel extraction are going to drive temperatures through the target and well beyond. Reality is demonstrating that capitalism, far from solving the climate crisis, is driving it catastrophically faster. We have to get rid of this system if we are to survive. Capitalism is extinction, socialism is survival!
Ben Adelaide
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 289 August/September 2022
