The second extreme heat wave of the summer hit Europe last week, breaking all-time heat records in several countries including France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Last Thursday, for example, France's meteorological service recorded a temperature of 42.6C soon after 4pm in Paris, well surpassing the city's previous record of 40.4C set in July 1947. Authorities throughout Europe handed out free water to homeless people and opened municipal building to those seeking shade. Trains were also ordered to slow down to safer speeds in a number of countries, amid worries that the rails could buckle in the heat. People with travel plans were strongly advised to stay home, especially those with fragile health, as health alerts were issued in several countries.
Extreme weather hit Slovakia as well, although the heat wave was less severe than in Western Europe. Nonetheless, it was clear that the hot weather was having an impact on people's health, with the TASR news agency reporting numerous cases of people collapsing due to the heat in various parts of the country over the past couple of weeks, including 145 people during the past weekend alone. In addition, as the heat wave subsided, several regions of the country were hit by storms that caused damage to infrastructure and severe flooding in areas, keeping firefighters busy late into Monday evening.
Climate change is often blamed for extreme weather patterns occurring in recent years. A study published this year by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich said that last year's heat wave across northern Europe (summer of 2018) would have been "statistically impossible" without the phenomenon of climate change, in which human activity is deemed by many to be a significant factor.
