In an already hot summer, Europe is facing a new heat wave, with temperatures expected to top 118° in Spain and Portugal this week, possibly breaking a record set in Greece in 1997.
Hospitals and emergency rooms are braced for possible large numbers of heat-stroke victims. And it’s not just humans: in Norway, motorists have been warned to watch out for reindeer and sheep in highway tunnels, where they have taken shelter from heat that has gone close to 100° even near the Arctic Circle.
River cruises have also suffered some disruptions from low water that prevents ships from using parts of the Rhine and Elbe. Cruise companies are using buses to bridge the gaps, and in some cases pairing ships so that passengers can be bused from one port to the same cabins on another ship past the dry area.
And in Sweden, scientists studying the country’s mountain glaciers have noted that due to higher-than-usual melt rates, glacier-capped Kebnekaise Mountain, rated as Sweden’s tallest, no longer is.
Crosby Liverpool. Sunday Aug 5.