欧洲炎热天气蔓延到北部，北欧几个国家的气温都创新高，部分地区出现“热带夜晚”。世界气象组织警告，热浪接下来将侵袭格陵兰岛，加速冰川融化，可能打破2012年的融冰记录。
挪威气象研究所周六发推文说，挪威北部当天气温高达35.6摄氏度，追平内斯比恩于1970年创下的全国最高温纪录。南部则有20个地点出现“热带夜晚”，这意味着有关地区一整晚的气温都维持在20摄氏度以上。
瑞典多个地方上周也出现“热带夜晚”，北部气温更创下1945年以来的最高温。瑞典气象水文研究所指出，北方城镇马库斯温沙26日的气温达34.8摄氏度，是瑞典今年以来的最高温。该研究所气象专家约珀兰说：“那是自1945年以来最北地区的最高温，也是历来第三高温。”
该研究所还发布缺水预警，预告全国21个省中，有15省下个月可能面临水供不足的问题。
格陵兰岛冰层或加速融化
挪威、瑞典和芬兰当局已发布热浪警报，芬兰警方还提醒驾车人士小心驾驶，避免撞上麋鹿，因为有越来越多麋鹿穿越公路寻觅水源解渴。
此外，世界气象组织周六警告，随着席卷欧洲的破纪录热浪向北移动，位于格陵兰岛的全球第二大冰层可能会加速融化，厚度接近或低于2012年的最薄纪录，而今年的融化也开始得非常早。
丹麦气象研究所专家莫特拉姆说，热浪预计在北极上空移动，带来大量足以融化冰川的能量。“北冰洋和冰盖表面的海冰，估计会在接下来三到五天内融化。”
Nordic countries are experiencing searing temperatures as Europe’s record-breaking heatwave moves north, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) said yesterday, with some areas recording “tropical nights”.
In Sweden, the most extreme heat has headed straight for the country’s far north.
On Friday, the small town of Markusvinsa in the far north recorded a temperature of 34.8 deg C, the highest mark reached in all of Sweden so far this year.
“That’s the hottest temperature in the far north since 1945 and the third-highest temperature on record,” SMHI meteorologist Jon Jorpeland told Agence France-Presse.
Last week, several places in Sweden experienced “tropical nights”, meaning that temperatures stayed above 20 deg C throughout the night.
The tropical heat was also being felt in other Nordic countries, and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute said yesterday that it had recorded “tropical nights” in 20 different locations in southern Norway.
Heat warnings have been issued in Sweden, Norway and Finland, and last week, Finnish police even warned motorists to be mindful of moose, which were increasingly crossing roads in search of water to quench their thirst.
Meanwhile, the heatwave that smashed national temperature records in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, and which baked Paris in its highest-ever temperature of 42.6 deg C in the middle of last week, has dissipated a little, but many travellers faced disrupted journeys.
The mercury dived in France with outbreaks of drizzle as state weather service Meteo-France lifted red alerts imposed in 20 departments.
In Germany, the country’s highest mountain Zugspitze – standing at 2,962m – was still almost completely covered in snow despite a national temperature record of 42.6 deg C in the north on Thursday.
“The thick snow cover has provided a buffer against (the mountain) absorbing the high temperatures this year,” a spokesman for the research station at Zugspitze said.
Commuters and holidaymakers saw travel plans blighted with disruption to air and rail services in several European countries.
Flights at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports were cancelled and delayed – some by more than two hours – with holiday destinations such as Alicante, Rome and Lisbon affected.
Elsewhere in the British capital, there was still travel havoc due to rails buckling under the heat and fires breaking out along commuter lines.
The Met Office advised against non-essential travel.
At Paris’ Gare du Nord, an electrical failure halted domestic and international high-speed trains during Friday lunchtime, including Eurostar and Thalys services, although traffic gradually resumed.
Thalys – which links Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne – also saw disruption, with slow trains amid fears that infrastructure could overheat.
At the peak of the heatwave, temperatures on the tracks soared to up to 15 deg C higher than that of the air.
In Switzerland, train engineers painted rails white to reflect the heat of the sun.
In northern and central France, the heatwave has been particularly brutal in the countryside, aggravating fires which have seen thousands of hectares of crops destroyed.
“More than 3,200ha have already gone up in flames since the start of summer,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.
Source: Zaobao / The Straits Times
