We are greatly concerned for the people in Europe suffering from record heat causing wildfires and potential for death and destruction.

According to the BBC, “A heatwave affecting much of Europe is expected to intensify further with countries - including France, Spain and Switzerland - expecting temperatures above 40C (104F) later on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic recorded their highest temperatures for June.

Meteorologists say hot air drawn in from northern Africa is responsible.

The heat is expected to rise further in many countries over the next three days, meteorologists warn.”

This year may be even hotter than the previous year of highest temperatures in 2003 when as many as 70,000 people may have died, according to the book The Thinking Person’s Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson. A combination of heat trapping particles causing air pollution affects people’s health and especially vulnerable are young children and the elderly.

Updated 6/28/19

Here’s the latest from the Washington Post:

“For a third straight day, a ferocious heat wave is baking large parts of Europe, and the exceptionally high temperatures are making history. On Friday, the town of Gallargues-le-Montueux in southern France hit 114.4 degrees (45.8 Celsius), the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country.

The scorching temperature easily surpassed the previous record of 111.4 degrees (44.1 Celsius) set in the southern town of Conqueyrac in France’s historic 2003 heat wave, which was blamed for 15,000 deaths.”

Note that the heat record is the highest ever recorded! The number of people who died from the 2003 heatwave is disputed with 15,000 reported in the current media reports and 70,000 as cited in the book The Thinking Person’s Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson.