The researchers also looked ahead, and found that a variety of different climate models predict an increase in mega heat waves similar to these in the 21st century for two regions within Europe.
From late July until the second week in August 2010, record heat settled across 772,204 square miles (2 million square kilometers) in Russia and Eastern Europe. In Moscow, the daytime temperatures reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38.2 degrees Celsius), in Kiev, nights reached 77 F (25 C), crops were destroyed, fires swept across western Russia, and preliminary estimates now put the Russian death toll at 55,000.
Researchers, led by David Barriopedro of the Instituto Dom Luiz at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, compared this mega heat wave with the one that struck western Europe seven years earlier, and found that 2010's heat wave was not only more severe, but also covered a greater area. Read the full report here.
Source: by Wynne Parry, Live Science Senior Writer.
