Hitting heat wave Europe Countries on the continent continue to bring significant scores, with July being the driest in decades for countries like UK And France.
Britain’s National Weather Service said in a statement on Monday that “the UK had only 35% of its average rainfall” after the country experienced its driest July since 1935.
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The southern and eastern regions suffered the most from the lack of rain, with only 17% of the total rainfall, the lowest value since 1836. The rainfall was less than expected and the temperature reached values above 40ºC. In history, 40.3°C was recorded in Lincolnshire.
In France, which had its driest July since 1959, just 7.8 millimeters of rain fell in the entire month, according to the country’s Environment Change Minister Christophe Béchu, and water scarcity has reached 88%.
The heat wave brought a series of wildfires to the western and southern parts of the country, with high temperatures expected this week. According to the French Meteorological Service, temperatures in the south-west should exceed 40ºC.
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At the same time, Spain’s agriculture minister warned that hot weather and low rainfall could reduce olive oil production.
“If there is no relief from temperature or rain in the next few weeks, this year’s olive harvest will be smaller than the previous one,” said Luis Planas. Bloomberg News.
Spain, the world’s largest producer of olive oil, accounts for half of all global production and according to Planas, the setback, along with continued disruptions in Ukraine’s sunflower oil supply, will keep vegetable oil prices high.
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The agriculture ministry has predicted that the country’s overall grain production, including corn, wheat and barley, will fall 13% to 17.5 million tonnes this year due to high temperatures, with prices in the south a benchmark for the country. Already in June there was an increase of 8.3% compared to the previous harvest.
Amid the heat wave, the Spanish government announced new energy-saving measures, including air conditioning and heating temperature limits in large public and commercial buildings, to reduce energy consumption and dependence on oil and Russian gas.
Under a decree that will come into force within seven days and apply to public buildings, shopping malls, cinemas, cinemas, railway stations and airports, heating should not be higher than 19°C and air conditioning should not be lower than 27°C. Doors should be closed to avoid wasting energy and window lights should be turned off after 22:00.
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The measures, published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, will remain in force until November 2023. Also, Environment Minister Teresa Ribera suggested that public administrations and large companies should encourage people to work from home to save money. Transportation and Buildings.
