Polish authorities have issued heat warnings for many parts of the country, with temperatures as high as 36.7 degree Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) measured in Kórnik near Poznań, Western Poland. In the port city of Gdańsk in northern Poland, many residents and domestic tourists from Poland and tourists from abroad flocked to the town's beaches to cool down.
"I don't remember that we had such scorching weather before but I think that climate is getting hotter and hotter now," one Polish tourist named Maria said, who visited the beach with her family and dog.
Gdańsk residents agree with her assessment. "No, it's climate change, it's too hot. It always used to be a bit cooler in summer," says Max who lives Gdańsk. "People in Gdańsk aren't used to it," adds his girlfriend Natalia.
The Europe-wide heatwave has caused worries of droughts, with state agencies saying, that half of Poland is at serious risk of droughts.
Other European countries such as France, Spain, Portugal and Croatia are fighting wildfires brought on due to the extreme heat with thousand of emergency personnel trying to fight the flames.
The searing heat is part of a global pattern of rising temperatures, attributed by scientists to human activity. Pope Francis on Thursday called on world leaders to heed the Earth's "chorus of cries of anguish" stemming from climate change, extreme weather and loss of biodiversity.
Climate change makes heatwaves hotter and more frequent. This is the case for most land regions, and has been confirmed by the U.N.'s global panel of climate scientists (IPCC).
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have heated the planet by about 1.2 Celsius since pre-industrial times. That warmer baseline means higher temperatures can be reached during extreme heat events.
Temperatures will only cease rising if humans stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Until then, heatwaves are set to worsen. A failure to tackle climate change would see heat extremes escalate even more dangerously.
Countries agreed under the global 2015 Paris Agreement to cut emissions fast enough to limit global warming to 2°C and aim for 1.5°C, to avoid its most dangerous impacts. Current policies would not cut emissions fast enough to meet either goal.2C warmer than in pre-industrial times. That is already driving extreme heat events.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters
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