Belgrade Heatwave Part VIII: It's Over

(((It's gone. That huge wave of blazing air has passed us over.
For the time being. But other people are still catching it, and I shudder at the thought of ten, fifteen, twenty years from now.)))

Link: EUobserver.com.

(...)Temperatures hit a historic 43C in Belgrade, 44C in Bulgaria and 45C in Bosnia and Macedonia, according to press reports. The Greek government has urged people to restrict their movements and stay indoors.

It is the second heat wave in the southeast European region this year where record temperatures in June have already ensured that this is the hottest summer in Greece for a century.

In northwest Europe the extreme weather conditions are also creating chaos although with limited numbers of deaths.

Heavy rainfall in the region where overflowing rivers have caused severe flooding in the UK and southern Germany

Days of rain have turned swathes of central and western England into lakes, flooding 4,500 houses, threatening many more and leaving cars submerged. Hundreds of thousands have been without drinking water and electricity.

"We are coming to terms with some of the issues surrounding climate change," UK prime minister Gordon Brown said recently about his country's floods, which are the worst seen in the last 60 years.

Last week, EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas urged member states to treat water as a scarce commodity as the warming trend, and accompanying droughts, will rise in southeast Europe....