Climate Watch: Massive & Punishing Heat Waves Experienced in Europe & Asia in May

 

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

This particular Climate Watch is admittedly a bit outdated. This was from a few weeks ago, concerning astonishing heat waves in parts of Europe and Asia. 

Apparently, I just missed it by a few days or so at most.

Still, these heat waves - which used to be unusual for Europe - are happening more and more frequently. 

Nor was it just Europe experiencing severe heat. Look at what the Chinese had to endure in late May:

Temperatures in northern China rose to 46.8C on Sunday at Mangxiaohu in Xinjiang province. Temperatures also hit 45.5C in Toksun. China’s meteorological authority issued the first high temperature heatstroke alert for the year at the start of the week, issuing yellow alerts for large parts of the country. 

It got worse, too:

By Monday, temperatures across the north of the country had risen further, with the city of Turpan in Xinjiang reaching 44.8C, while the weather station at Mangxiaohu reached 47.1C. It follows one of the warmest springs on record: China’s average temperature for the March-May period was 11.8C, the fourth highest in history. Temperature records were broken at nearly 300 weather stations.

Yikes.

If this is all a Chinese hoax, you have to admit it's a rather elaborate and very convincing one, wouldn't you say? And they are not even sparing their own people, either, apparently.

That's some hoax! It's no wonder, then, that their scientists now have pulled ahead of American scientists in so many ways.

Below are the links to two articles which UI used for this particular blog entry, and from which I got all of the specific information and quotes used in the above:

Weather tracker: Record heat engulfs parts of France, Portugal and Spain by Matt Andrews (MetDesk),  Fri 30 May 2025:

High pressure across much of Europe comes amid worst drought in decades, while Canada braces for hot spell  

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/30/weather-tracker-record-heat-france-portugal-spain

Temperatures over 40C recorded in Portugal and Spain, while China endures heatwave conditions in high 40s  

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/13/weather-tracker-europe-china-record-breaking-heatwaves