Fires In Tuscany, Penine Hills (UK), Rhine Falling As Record Winter Warmth Continues Over Europe

Europe’s freakishly warm weather is likely to extend into the middle of March and may be evidence that human activity like burning fossil fuels is shifting the climate. That’s what scientists are saying after temperatures topped 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time during the winter in the U.K. The comments, which are becoming increasingly frequent with each new spell of unusual weather, break with the convention that individual shifts in the temperature are almost impossible to link to a change in the climate.

“Almost certainly, man made climate change has already made events like this week’s more likely than if humans were not warming the planet with our fossil fuel emissions,” said James Screen, a climate scientist at the University of Exeter.

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German meterologists Deutscher Wetterdienst revised its four week forecast on Friday morning and now sees above normal temperatures, combined with dryer conditions, across the country through to the end of March. In Italy, Canadair firefighting planes on Wednesday morning were dumping water on forest fires raging over Tuscan hillsides after a prolonged dry spell. The fires prompted closure of the a highway linking central Italy to Austria, delaying road transport of goods.

A heatwave in the U.K. contributed to fires on Saddleworth Moor in the Pennine hills between Manchester and Leeds burning out of control Wednesday, with firefighters tackling blazes on crisp-dry moorlands typically covered with snow thirty years ago. Thomas Smith, assistant professor in environmental geography at the London School of Economics, said events like that may happen more often as the climate warms.



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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-01/winter-heatwave-in-europe-will-extend-into-middle-of-march?srnd=climate-changed