Heatwaves – An Often Underestimated Creeping Danger
The meteorological summer has just begun, and as school holidays roll out across Europe, people are eagerly looking forward to their well-earned vacation season.
However, in parallel with the intensifying effects of climate change, this period is also marked by severe weather events, some of which may not be immediately recognised as dangerous. One such creeping danger is heatwaves. High temperatures can be exhausting, bothersome, and can easily ruin a day if one is unprepared, especially for those who struggle to find places to cool down.
For others, however, heatwaves can become life-threatening, a reality often underestimated or poorly understood by the general public.
By early July, Europe had already experienced two intense heatwave phases this year, mainly affecting Western, Southern, and Central Europe. June recorded an average monthly temperature of 20.49 °C in Western Europe – the highest on record – with national temperature records exceeding 46°C on the Iberian Peninsula.
To raise public awareness, MeteoAlarm, the pan-European Early Warning Dissemination System, is supporting National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in delivering consistent and harmonised warnings. It provides a platform to exchange best practices for effective public communication during severe weather events.
Since weather hazards do not stop at national borders, there is a well-recognised need to enhance cross-border coordination in issuing warnings. After all, it should not matter to the user whether they are travelling from country A to B or even C – ideally, the warning information should be presented consistently, clearly, and in a harmonised manner.
Due to their prolonged duration and broad geographic extent, heatwaves can challenge applications that visualise the current warning situation. The danger lies in the potential for shorter-lived, more localised hazards, such as thunderstorms, to be visually overshadowed by these longer-lasting phenomena, making it harder for users to interpret the current situation and take timely action.
To address this, MeteoAlarm is also improving its visualisation tools. In the near future, the user interface will allow the selection between short-term and long-term hazards, offering a more accurate, real-time understanding of current weather risks across Europe.
As of this article’s publication, a third heatwave is unfolding, now gripping Southeastern Europe and extending into neighbouring regions, as illustrated in the image below, taken from the visualisation on the MeteoAlarm website.
