Last Sunday, the meteorological department issued a high temperature red warning for parts of more than 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in my country, including Sichuan, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Hubei, Anhui, and Zhejiang. Some cities will still face high temperatures of 40°C after the end of the period. .
Source: Xinhua News Agency Tourists on Zhujiajian Beach, Zhoushan in August
The harm caused by high temperature is continuous and diverse.
The highest temperature record has been set again and again, causing 2,223 people to die from high temperature in Spain in July alone. In the first nine days of August, high temperature caused another 743 deaths. The number of casualties has been three times higher than last year.
What is even more worrying is that the drought problem caused by high temperature will further lead to a global food crisis . The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other places have set historical drought records, which may trigger the worst drought in Europe in 500 years.
In August, Europe was hit by the third heat wave this year. Meteorological experts predict that in the future, such fatal high temperatures and droughts will only increase and become the "new normal" of the earth...
Britain is in everyone's impression Zhongdu is a country with continuous rain and no high temperature.
However, the unusually hot weather that lasted for nearly two months this year resulted in almost no real rain in England throughout the summer.
According to statistics from the British Meteorological Office, this year England has ushered in the driest year since 1935. Even in the south, where there is ample rainfall, precipitation is only 17% of the same period in previous years.
Last Friday, the British Environment Agency issued a shocking announcement: a drought warning was officially launched in large areas of England. In this way, you may not be able to feel how bad the situation is, but it is very intuitive when you look at the pictures.
Reservoir near Cornwall
This is a comparison of the greening of London last year and this year. Due to drought, many lawns and gardens have dried up this year, and the satellite image of Hyde Park has turned from green to earthy yellow.
Yorkshire is one of the most important areas for animal husbandry and agriculture in the UK. It has abundant water and grass and is naturally suitable for farming and grazing. However, this is the water level of Baitings Reservoir in West Yorkshire these days, and the river bed on both sides is exposed in many places.
A section of the Sutton Bingham reservoir, which supplies water to Yeovil, the largest town in South Somerset, has gone dry.
The Pontsticill Reservoir is the water source for urban life and industry in southern Wales. Photos from the past few days also show that the water level has dropped and some river sections have dried up.
The mother river of the UK and the heart of LondonThe Thames is one of the most important water sources in the UK. The first shot of the London Olympics opening ceremony short film is here. At that time, the source of the Thames was still like this:
. However, the latest photos show that there is no drop of water at the source of the Thames, and only the memorial stone remains.
The town where the source of the Thames flows through in the film was also dry under the bridge.
Drought has caused the source of the Thames to dry up for nearly 8 kilometers. This is the first time in a century that the longest river in Britain has experienced such a serious situation.
In addition, the water levels of 13 rivers in the UK have dropped to record lows, which has put many places under pressure from insufficient domestic water supply.
In order to prevent the water source problem from getting worse, many water companies in England have successively issued the most stringent water conservation orders in history.
They banned residents in much of southern England from using rubber hoses to water flowers, wash cars, clean facades or windows, and fill swimming pools and paddling pools. Violators face a fine of £1,000.
The area where the ban is implemented this time
The UK, which is famous for its rainy weather, has a water crisis. It is really unbelievable.
In fact, British agriculture has been affected by drought. Essex is one of the apple producing areas in the UK. However, this year the apples in many orchards were seriously dry and cracked due to the high temperature.
Before the ripening season, the peels are yellowed and "scorched" by the sun, and the flesh dries up, which means that most of them cannot be sold due to quality issues.
The lack of rain in summer will not only affect the harvest of the current year, but also the income of the second year. Because fruit trees store water in spring and summer for winter use, there is not enough water in summer now, and it is difficult for plants to survive the winter.
Although the water-saving order does not prohibit artificial irrigation at the agricultural level, the cost of using tap water for irrigation is quite high, which is difficult for farmers to bear. Moreover, under such anxious circumstances, the UK's reservoir infrastructure is still difficult to describe.
Most of the water storage systems and water pipelines in the UK are antiques from a hundred or even hundreds of years ago. Many are so old that they are vulnerable, and water leakage is a common phenomenon.
According to statistics, 3.1 billion liters of water are leaked from these old facilities in England and Wales every year.
In the past, there was no shortage of water in the UK. If you think there is a leak, just let it leak. The water company doesn't want to take care of it. There has been a drought this year, and these water pipes and reservoirs are still leaking, which is simply adding insult to injury. Although water companies say they are already using high technology to remedy these problems, they are obviously too late to worry.
Recently, water pipes in Cricklewood were photographed leaking heavily
Due to pipe problems, some areas near London experienced short-term water outages. The water company had to provide bottled water to these residents so that they could maintain normal washing and cooking.
Summer rainfall approaching "nil", drought warnings, water-saving orders, and inexplicable water cuts are all so unfamiliar to the British that they have triggered a new wave of panic about stocking up.
Residents of some cities in southern England rushed to buy bottled water in nearby supermarkets and emptied the drinking water counters of several supermarkets.
"Have we all been reduced to the point of hoarding bottled water??"
"Why are we all panic buying water? My home's tap water is still in sufficient supply."
"Speechless, 2022 British people are grabbing water ! ! I saw someone walking away with two carts of bottled water! "
" I also want to go to the supermarket to buy him six months' worth of water! "
" I was really going to go to the supermarket to buy a delicious sandwich. and a large bottle of water, but the supermarket was sold out of sandwiches and even bottled water. I was so angry.”
Friends in the UK do not need to join the water hoarding army. Experts say that residents’ daily water consumption can be guaranteed. However, in the long term, the problems caused by high temperatures and drought will definitely increase.
The British Hydrology Center warned that this drought is conservatively estimated to last until October, although in fact, British agriculture may be hit by drought until next year.
Looking at Europe, the UK is not the most severely affected. In fact, Western Europe, Central Europe, and Southern Europe have all received very little rainfall in the past two months. This is the first time that the continent has encountered such severe drought weather in more than 500 years.
Half of Europe is in a drought warning state, and 17% of European land has reached the critical point of vegetation damage. This means that crops and plants on these lands will fail or die.
Germany's most important river , the Rhine , is not only a cultural symbol, but also an important source of irrigation, manufacturing, power generation and daily water for residents. More importantly, it is a local waterway transportation artery.
For hundreds of years, Germany has relied on the Rhine River to transport goods to European countries.
The current situation of the Bonn river section
However, the water level of the Rhine River has dropped sharply this year, and some sections of the river are no longer accessible to cargo ships.
The management department requires that all cargo ships can carry 40% of the original carrying capacity of cargo through the Rhine River, otherwise the merchant ships may be stranded. Rising transportation costs and risks have caused companies to abandon the Rhine, and Germany will suffer a huge economic blow.
In 2018, the Rhine River was shut down for six months for some reason, resulting in a loss of 5 billion euros. The impact this year is expected to be more serious than last time.
The flow of the Po River, the longest river in Italy, will reach one-tenth of previous years, and the water level will drop by more than 2 meters, causing Italy to fall into the worst water crisis in 70 years. The Italian government declared a state of emergency.
The Po River Valley is an important agricultural area in Italy, accounting for 30%-40% of the country's output. However, there has been no rain in the region since November last year. Local analysts believe that this will cause 60% of the region's grain quality to decline or simply not be harvested. .
The dry Po River Basin
At the same time, the water level in some sections of France's famous Loire River is so low that one can walk across the river, and the flow rate has never been slow.
Since the Loire River provides cooling water for 70% of France's nuclear power plants, France's largest power company has had to reduce power supply for safety reasons. Similarly, the Danube River in the Serbia basin is undergoing dredging work to maintain water depth.
Current status of dry areas of the Loire River
High temperatures in Europe have also led to frequent forest wildfires in many countries. Wildfires in the Bordeaux region of France caused more than 10,000 residents to flee their homes. This was just one of the many natural fires in France in July this year. It's also a disaster for wildlife.
Recently, 15% of the Serra da Estrela National Park in central Portugal was hit by fire, turning this wildlife paradise into a hell in an instant.
A wildfire in northeastern Spain that began on Saturday burned about 8,000 hectares of land in less than 24 hours.
Outside of Europe, the drought problem in the United States is also getting worse this year.
Nearly 70% of the western and southern U.S. Plains are facing drought, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .
Lake Mead in Nevada and Lake Powell in Utah have reached record lows, which threatens hydroelectric power capabilities in both areas and further shrinks the habitat of surrounding fish and birds.
Comparison of water levels in 1985 and 2020
Extreme climate is really not just as simple as making people feel hotter and more uncomfortable. It is a problem that has endless harm to food production, economy, and natural resources, and is faced by the whole world.
In the past ten years, there have been more and more reports on climate issues. Almost every year we can see words like "setting a record", which inevitably makes people feel numb to the threats posed by extreme temperatures. We have already We have entered a world that experts call the “new normal of high temperatures.”
In this world, the Arctic temperature is rising every year, the Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking every year, the number of high-temperature deaths in Europe is rising every year, and droughts and food problems are commonplace in Asia.
We will quickly adapt to news like this and stop worrying about it, but these problems will not disappear.
Those who died in the hot weather in Pakistan in 2015
Maybe one day the temperature here will be so high that humans cannot adapt, penguins and polar bears will not be able to survive, the ice caps will all melt, and more and more ordinary workers will die Due to high temperature, hunger and lack of water.
A world like a disaster movie was not created in a day, and actions to prevent disasters cannot be left to tomorrow...
