Panic is rising in one European capital city as it’s predicted to be hotter than Egypt in a matter of years.
The UK’s early summer months have been characterised by unseasonal storms and unwelcome clouds but across Europe, temperatures are rising.
June marked the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures, according to figures from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Meteorologists predict that many parts of the Northern Hemisphere will experience extreme weather events in the coming weeks with scientists warning that serious natural disasters such as flooding and wildfires will become more common if the effects of climate change are not addressed.
One such victim of extreme weather patterns is the Serbian capital Belgrade, with data showing that its lack of green space has contributed to a 7-degree temperature rise in parts of the city.
On its current trajectory, the city is due to be as hot as Egypt by 2050.
The prospect of Belgrade regularly seeing temperatures more familiar in Africa has led to calls from the city’s residents for investment in green spaces.
Barely 12% of the city is classed as a green area, with the city centre having less than 3%.
This combined with a high density of large buildings, concrete, asphalt, metal and glass sees the city’s heat absorbed leading to the creation of “heat islands”.
Milica Lukić a researcher from the Faculty of Geography in Belgrade told local news: “As a resident of Belgrade, I now notice that the concreting of Belgrade is intensive and that it is trees and green areas that most oftenly pay the high price.
“There are less and less of them. We increasingly see groups of citizens rising to defend small parks threatened by the construction of new residential-commercial zones.”
2024 has seen a host of extreme weather events sweep across central and southern Europe.
Severe wildfires have been seen in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal , North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Wildfires in Albania became so extreme that emergency services became overwhelmed.
EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said on Thursday: ‘Wildfires know no borders.
‘The EU has mobilised firefighting airplanes from Greece to support the local first responders in Albania in their fight against the wildfires. We stand ready to further support Albania if needed.”