Heat Waves in Europe and North America: Does it Affect Africa?

What is the link between Africa and heat waves in Europe and the United States? Read on to find out

Searching for cool air, Credit, NBC News

The authorities shut down the schools. Embattled by the situation, they shut down them down, especially those lacking air conditioning. They shut down the public schools, announced they would close all in-person institutions three hours early, to protect young children and others with health conditions, to prevent fatalities.

Still, suspected fatalities took place. In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, two suspected fatalities happened. The fatalities unnerved officials, because the county’s medical examiners placed the deaths under an investigation, aiming to carry out an autopsy, to unravel the real cause of the deaths. In Ohio, the authorities put in place measures to prevent fatalities, with one mayor calling on residents to use cooling pools, to swim in them, to do everything to make sure they feel cool.

Avoiding the heat wave, Credit, Time

In Europe, panic took control. Panic escalated as people in Paris stood in front of taps. They stood in front of taps with cups, gulping in water. Those who don’t stand in front of taps looked everywhere for air conditioning, to keep away their confusion, to keep away from collapse, to keep away anxiety. France didn’t want people to stand in front of public taps, and so it banned outdoor events due to the problem in the land, told citizens to stay indoors, stay away from the city streets, stay away due to the possibility of fatalities.

Europe and North America shake over the possibility of fatalities, as the first heat wave of the year came calling. Authorities in Ohio told residents to prepare for further problems. Residents should remain inside, even if homes remained without power, even when homes were uncomfortable, even when conditions inside were tough. Newspapers told bewildered people that they should prepare for challenges, even though the authorities spoke a lot about fatalities happening, spoke a lot about fatalities befalling those with health conditions.

School closing, Credit, Newsweek

The problems with Europe arise from rising temperatures. The challenge in places like Ohio comes with a rising heat, with high temperatures hitting the place, as homes remain without power following storms. The problem arrives with heat waves, making the demand for air conditioning to soar, making schools to close early, making people to panic with the showers and thunderstorms roaring around them. The farmlands dried up with the hot days, the rivers dried up with the heat waves, the forests dried up with the rising temperatures.

Experts put the turmoil on climate change. According to them, at least 16 U.S. cities set or tied records for their highest temperatures, and climate change caused it. Mason Georgia hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit, three degrees higher than the previous June 15 mark set in 2010, and experts say it’s climate change that caused it. The Chicago O Hare airport recorded a temperature of 96 degree Fahrenheit, 15 degrees above normal and well above the 79 degree Fahrenheit last year on June 15, and experts say it’s climate change that caused it.

In Europe, experts put the blame, also, on climate change. Though France tried to put a check on the frightening situation, but it could not do much, as records for highest temperatures got breached in the fierce heat. Records for highest temperatures, just like what happened in Ohio, also got breached in Germany, with heat admissions flying about the place, with heat warnings spreading through the mass media, with public officials putting the blame on the climate change crisis.

Victim of heat wave, Credit, Carbon Brief

Public officials may not put the blame on the climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. They may not put it on heat waves, because records on heat waves prove difficult to monitor in the sub-continent. They may not place it on rising temperatures, despite the fatalities, despite the illnesses, despite the discomforts. But it doesn’t matter who they blame, because no matter how they see it, the happenings in Europe and North America portends really bad news for Africa. 

It’s bad news to Africa, because it reminds many that sub-Sahara African nations fail to maintain reliably records about their heat waves. It’s a bad news because though the continent records the highest temperatures in the globe, officials only acknowledged two heat waves in the 20th Century, whereas many suspect hundreds of heat waves took place. It’s a bad news because since the scientific community dealing with climate modeling concentrates on Europe and North America, one would have expected Africa to carry out its own proper monitoring to become part of the conversation, but it fails to take up this challenge.

The heat waves in Europe and North America also reminds Africans of other disturbing things on the continent. It tells us that global warming and rising rainfall patterns take place in North and Southern Africa, but still more information needs to be gathered. It reminds us that much of Africa warmed by more than 1C since 1901, with an increase in heat waves and hot days, but the paucity of reliable climate information makes it difficult to examine the situation in its entirety. It reminds us that extensive areas of the continent may exceed 2C of warming above pre-industrial levels in the last two decades of this century, but the information comes from international organization, not from data gathering within the continent.

Effect of heat wave, Credit, Green Queen
The unreliable data gathering on heat waves within sub-Sahara means numerous things. It means when heat waves want to occur, officials might not make preparations for the event. It means the number of suspected fatalities may be higher than what obtains in Europe and North America, because the continent warms faster than other areas. It means young children and persons with certain health conditions won’t get any protection, since government agencies fail to keep reliable records, since when heat waves appear many in the continent do not know that heat waves appear.

However, Africa can guess about its heat wave status through the happenings in Europe and North America in relation to the scorching heat waves battering both continents. If cities in the United States set new temperature records, then cities in sub-Saharan Africa must be recording higher figures, even though agencies fail to keep the data. If cities in India and Pakistan set new heat wave records, sub-Sahara Africa cities must be hitting greater figures, since its climate change making cities all over the world to set temperature figures, and sub-Sahara Africa cannot be an exception to a worldwide trend.

Unfortunately, a few examples exist to show that some parts of Africa record temperature rises at the present time. According to experts, summers warm faster than the rest of the world in North Africa. Also, the continent’s temperature record in 2019 was among the warmest years on the continent, and experts expect the trend to continue in the coming years. In addition, continued warming and decreasing rainfall also take place in North and Southern Africa, according to a report for a five-year period from 2020 to 2024.

Heat wave in the desert, Credit, The Weather Network
Lots of negative impacts face sub-Sahara Africa with the latest increase of heat waves and hot days in Europe and North America. Since heat waves bring malaria, many sub-Sahara Africans will suffer without anyone recording their suffering. Many may contact dengue fever, because warmer temperatures prove conducive to it, and the authorities would not have prepared for a dengue fever outbreak. Some may contact yellow fever with the high temperatures and heat waves, and many new diseases may emerge in areas where they previously were not present, and the authorities would not have prepared, because records show inconsistency about the rising temperatures status in sub-Sahara African cities.

Therefore, something must be done to change the situation. Already, pilot projects on compiling heat waves  took place in Ghana. They also took place in the Gambia, collaborations between local researchers and epidemiologists. It can take place across sub-Saharan Africa, when governments build on seeing the direct link between health problems and rising temperatures ravaging the world. When this takes place, information surfaces  over heat-related disruptions in the continent, helping to improve the phenomenon of rising heat and enabling preparations against it.

Early warning systems should not be ignored. With early warning systems, sub-Sahara African nations create an awareness about heat waves and rising temperatures. With an awareness creation, the continent accelerates the steps taken about local situations and protecting young children and the medically challenged from undergoing suffering. With lots of people prevented from suffering, the continent grows its economic structures and ensures a better life for hundreds of millions of people.

Obviously, a conclusive analysis arises on historical periods of heat waves from a meteorological point of view, and this will prove invaluable for hundreds of millions of people. A reliable analysis provides a relevant data about heat waves on the continent. It provides an opportunity for an awareness creation for millions of people, educating about the best way to avoid dengue fever, yellow fever, malaria, and other diseases. It enables experts to see a direct link between the health problems and rising temperatures, so that not unlike Europe and North America last week, Africa responds positively in this dangerous era of  climate crisis.