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The pandemic has changed the focus of climate change. But summer is coming, and with it there are probably records in Europe. What additional problems would they cause? Thus begins an analysis by Deutsche Welle on “Coronavirus and heat: what will summer be like in Europe?”
The sun is a pleasant drink from the clear sky, nature blooms wildly: in many places in Europe, spring is simply fabulous. On the contrary, there are farmers who pray for the rain. Drought threatens the entire harvest this spring, a new problem for Europe beyond the pandemic.
Not much is said about him at the moment. German farmers seem to be more concerned about the lack of temporary workers who do not travel due to closed borders. The coronavirus dwarfs all other concerns, including well-founded fears about the future of the climate, which have recently materialized into genuine natural disasters in Brazil and Australia.
At the edge of the earth
Andreas Becker of the German Weather Service recalls that January was very warm and he and March were too dry. Many rains fell in February, at least partially compensating for the loss of soil moisture.
The 20- to 50-centimeter soil layer, which is important for crop production, has so far recovered from the record summer heat over the past two years better than the layers up to two meters deep that are important to trees Becker explains. And the situation is further aggravated by the dry month of March.
According to Becker, soil moisture in Germany is 50 to 75 percent lower than usual, and that’s on the edge of the earth.
Leipzig meteorologist Andreas Marx adds that in the past three years, both northern Germany and parts of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Romania have suffered from a shortage of rain.
What awaits us the summer?
Experts refrain from predicting the impending summer. Remember that even the forecasts for one or two weeks are not so sure. Becker and Marx point out something important: Due to mountains, seas and the Atlantic, Europe’s climate is more difficult to predict than Australia, for example, which is surrounded by water everywhere. But both agree that the summer will be hotter than usual this year.
Marx believes that in the summer heat Europe will not only be warm but also dry. He recalls that the number of hot days in Germany has increased from three to four times in the past two summers, with serious consequences for both agriculture and health.
If meteorologists’ cautious predictions turn out to be true, Europeans in the summer will suffer not only from coronavirus restrictions but also from persistent heat. Again, the same risk group as in the pandemic is at greater risk: the elderly, who are much more difficult to bear in the heat.
Not to mention a very trivial detail: when it’s hot, protective masks are particularly nasty. Soil moisture in Germany is 50 to 75 percent lower than usual, and this is on the edge of the earth.
Heat and drought also cause forest fires, which create clouds of smoke. For people whose organisms are fighting the coronavirus, smoking puts additional pressure on their already tortured lungs. Well, at least fires like Australians in Europe are unlikely, thanks to the diverse climate and the Atlantic, which is relaxing to sum up Becker.
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