2003 European heat wave - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

*2003 European heat wave*
Dates	June 2003 to August 2003
Areas affected	Mostly western Europe

The 2003 European heat wave was the hottest summer on record in Europe since at least 1540. France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

was hit especially hard. The heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

to create a crop

Crop (agriculture)

A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...

shortfall in Southern Europe. More than 40,000 Europeans died as a result of the heat wave

Heat wave

A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity. There is no universal definition of a heat wave; the term is relative to the usual weather in the area...

France

In France, there were 14,802 heat-related deaths (mostly among the elderly) during the heat wave, according to the French National Institute of Health. France does not commonly have very hot summers, particularly in the northern areas, but seven days with temperatures of more than 40 °C (104 °F) were recorded in Auxerre

Auxerre

Auxerre is a commune in the Bourgogne region in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon. It is the capital of the Yonne department.Auxerre's population today is about 45,000...

, Yonne

Yonne

Yonne is a French department named after the Yonne River. It is one of the four constituent departments of Burgundy in eastern France and its prefecture is Auxerre. Its official number is 89....

between July and August 2003. Because of the usually relatively mild summers, most people did not know how to react to very high temperatures (for instance, with respect to rehydration), and most single-family homes and residential facilities built in the last 50 years were not equipped with air conditioning

Air conditioning

An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...

. Furthermore, while there were contingency plans for a variety of natural and man-made catastrophes, high temperatures had never been considered a major hazard.

The heat wave

Heat wave

occurred in August, a month in which many people, including government ministers and physicians, are on holiday. Many bodies were not claimed for many weeks because relatives were on holiday. A refrigerated warehouse outside Paris was used by undertakers as they did not have enough space in their own facilities. On 3 September 2003, fifty-seven bodies still left unclaimed in the Paris area were buried.

The high number of deaths can be explained by the conjunction of seemingly unrelated events. Most nights in France are cool, even in summer. As a consequence, houses (usually of stone, concrete or brick construction) do not warm too much during the daytime and radiate minimal heat at night, and air conditioning is usually unnecessary. During the heat wave, temperatures remained at record highs even at night, preventing the usual cooling cycle. Elderly persons living by themselves had never faced such extreme heat before and did not know how to react or were too mentally or physically impaired by the heat to make the necessary adaptations themselves. Elderly persons with family support or those residing in nursing homes were more likely to have others who could make the adjustments for them. This led to statistically improbable survival rates with the weakest group having fewer deaths than more physically fit persons; most of the heat victims came from the group of elderly persons not requiring constant medical care or living alone without immediate family.

That shortcomings of the nation's health system could allow such a death toll is a matter of controversy in France. The administration of President Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

and Prime Minister

Prime Minister of France

The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin is a French conservative politician and senator for Vienne.Jean-Pierre Raffarin served as the Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005, resigning after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. However, after Raffarin...

laid the blame on
families who had left their elderly behind without caring for them, the 35-hour workweek

35-hour workweek

The 35-hour working week is a measure adopted first in France, in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government; it was pushed by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry. The previous legal duration of the working week was 39 hours, which had been established by François...

, which affected the amount of time doctors could work and family practitioners vacationing in August. Many companies traditionally closed in August, so people had no choice about when to vacation. Family doctors were still in the habit of vacationing at the same time. It is not clear that more physicians would have helped as the main limitation was not the health system but locating old people needing assistance.

The opposition

Opposition (politics)

In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government , party or group in political control of a city, region, state or country...

, as well as many of the editorial

Editorial

An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...

s of the local press, have blamed the administration. Many blamed Health Minister Jean-François Mattei

Jean-François Mattei

Jean-François Mattei, born January 14, 1943 in Lyon, France, is a French doctor and politician.- Medical career :Jean-François Mattei is a professor of pediatrics and genetics...

for failing to return from his vacation when the heat wave became serious, and his aides for blocking emergency measures in public hospitals (such as the recalling of physicians). A particularly vocal critic was Dr. Patrick Pelloux, head of the union of emergency physicians, who blamed the Raffarin administration for ignoring warnings from health and emergency professionals and trying to minimize the crisis. Mattei lost his ministerial post in a cabinet reshuffle on 31 March 2004.

Not everyone blamed the government. "The French family structure is more dislocated than elsewhere in Europe, and prevailing social attitudes hold that once older people are closed behind their apartment doors or in nursing homes, they are someone else's problem," said Stéphane Mantion, an official with the French Red Cross. "These thousands of elderly victims didn't die from a heat wave as such, but from the isolation and insufficient assistance they lived with day in and out, and which almost any crisis situation could render fatal."

Portugal

There were extensive forest fires in Portugal. Five percent of the countryside and ten percent of the forests (215,000 hectares) were destroyed, an estimated 4000 square kilometres (1,544.4 sq mi). Eighteen people died in the fires and there were an estimated 1866 to 2039 heat related deaths over all. Temperatures reached as high as 48 °C (118.4 °F) in Amareleja

Amareleja

Amareleja is a Portuguese civil parish of the municipality of Moura, in the district of Beja. In 2001, the population was 2763 inhabitants, in an area of 108.56 km² in area, and is one of the hottest places in Europe during the summer .-History:Archeological vestiges, from the Roman epoch are...

. The first of August was the hottest day in centuries, with night temperatures well above 30 °C (86 °F). A freak storm developed on the southern region during that dawn. A hot, strong saharan wind blew during the subsequent days of that week.7

Cyprus

The highest temperature during the heat wave was recorded in Cyprus. In the capital, Nicosia, temperatures unofficially exceeded 57 °C (134.6 °F). Many people reported such temperatures on their thermometers in own houses. The official record was 52.1 °C (125.8 °F) in urban Nicosia. As a result of deaths and high temperatures, the government had to declare a 3 day curfew between 11am and 5pm. In Cyprus, temperatures usually reach 45 °C (113 °F) during the summer period.

Netherlands

There were about 1,500 heat related deaths in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, again largely the elderly. The heat wave here broke no records, although 4 tropical weather designated days in mid-July, preceding the official wave, are not counted due to a cool day in between and the nature of the Netherlands specification/definition of a heat wave. The highest temperature recorded this heatwave was on 7 August, when in Arcen

Arcen

Arcen is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. In 2010, it became part of the municipality of Venlo. Previously, it had been part of the municipality of Arcen en Velden and the seat of 'het gemeentehuis' . Gemeente Arcen en VeldenIn 2001, Arcen had 1884 inhabitants...

, in Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

, a temperature of 37.8 °C was reached, 0.8 °C below the national record (since 1704). It happened only twice that a higher temperature was recorded. On 8 August a temperature of 37.7 °C was recorded, and 12 August saw a temperature of 37.2 °C.

Spain

There were 141 deaths in Spain. Temperature records were broken in various cities including 45.1 °C (113.2 °F) in Jerez

Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez de la Frontera is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, situated midway between the sea and the mountains. , the city, the largest in the province, had 208,896 inhabitants; it is the fifth largest in Andalusia...

, 41 °C (105.8 °F), with the heat wave being more felt in typically cooler northern Spain. Thus, record temperatures were reached in Girona

Girona

Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...

, 38.8 °C (101.8 °F) in Burgos

Burgos

Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...

, 38.6 °C (101.5 °F) in San Sebastián

San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...

, 36 °C (96.8 °F) in Pontevedra

Pontevedra

Pontevedra is a city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the comarca and province of Pontevedra, in Galicia . It is also the capital of its own municipality which is, in fact, often considered as an extension of the actual city...

and 36 °C (96.8 °F) in Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. In Sevilla was 45.2 °C (113.4 °F) although the record was in 1995 with 46.6 °C (115.9 °F).

Italy

The summer 2003 was among the warmest in the last three centuries, and the maximum temperatures of July and August remained above 30 °C. The high humidity emphasized the perception of heat and population suffering.
Several reports about strong positive temperature anomalies exist, for instance from Toscana and Veneto. Temperatures rose far above their means in most of the Country and reached very high mean values especially in terms of heat persistence; for instance the weather station of Catenanuova

Catenanuova

Catenanuova is a town and comune in the province of Enna, in the region of Sicily in southern Italy. It belongs to the Diocese of Nicosia.-Geography:...

, in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, had a monthly mean of 31.5 °C (88.7 °F) in July 2003, with an absolute maximum of 46 °C (114.8 °F) on July 17, with monthly mean maximum temperatures of 36 °C (96.8 °F), 38.9 °C (102 °F) and 38 °C (100.4 °F) in June, July and August 2003 respectively.

Germany

In Germany, a record temperature of 40.4 °C (104.7 °F) was recorded at Roth bei Nürnberg

Roth bei Nürnberg

Roth is a town in Bavaria, Germany, the capital of the district Roth. It is located about 25 km south of Nuremberg.-History:...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. But some experts suspect that the highest temperatures occurred in the upper Rhine

Upper Rhine

The Upper Rhine is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basel, Switzerland and Bingen, Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometers 170 to 529 ....

plain, which is known for very high temperatures. At some stations (private stations, for example Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

or Frankenthal

Frankenthal

Frankenthal is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.- History :Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, after the founder, as the Erkenbertruine — still stand today in the town...

), temperatures over 41 °C (105.8 °F) were reported, but not recognized by official statistics. With only half the normal rainfall, rivers were at their lowest this century, and shipping could not navigate the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

or Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

. Around 300 people—mostly elderly—died during the 2003 heatwave in Germany.

Switzerland

Melting glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s in the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

caused avalanches and flash floods in Switzerland. A new nationwide record temperature of 41.5 °C (106.7 °F) was recorded in Grono

Grono, Switzerland

- External links :*...

, Graubünden

Graubünden

Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

in general was suffering from a warm summer with temperatures well above average. However, Atlantic cyclones brought cool and wet weather for a short while at the end of July and very beginning of August before the temperatures started to increase substantially from 3 August onwards. Several weather records were broken in the United Kingdom, including the UK's highest recorded temperature 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) at Brogdale

Brogdale

Brogdale is a hamlet in Kent, England, located beside the M2 motorway south of Faversham. It is one of several hamlets making up the civil parish of Ospringe and is in the Borough of Swale....

orchards near Faversham

Faversham

Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...

in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

on 10 August. London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

also recorded 38 °C (100.4 °F). Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

also broke its highest temperature record with 32.9 °C (91.2 °F) recorded in Greycrook

Greycrook

Greycrook is a village off the A68 and the A699, in the Scottish Borders, approximately 0.5km south-east of St Boswells, and close to Dryburgh, Dryburgh Abbey, Maxton, Newtown St Boswells, and the River Tweed....

in the Scottish borders on 9 August.
According to the BBC around 2,000 people in the United Kingdom died during the 2003 heatwave. Most of these people were more than likely over 80.

Ireland

The summer of 2003 was warmer than average in Ireland, but the heat was far less pronounced there than in the rest of Europe. August was by far the warmest, sunniest and driest month, with temperatures roughly 2ºC above average. The highest temperature recorded was 30.3 °C (86.5 °F) at Belderrig

Belderrig

Béal Deirg is a Gaeltacht village and townland in County Mayo, Ireland.-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland...

, County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

on 8 August.

Wheat

The following shortfalls in wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

harvest occurred as a result of the long drought.

France - 20%
Italy - 13%
United Kingdom - 12%
Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

- 75% (Unknown if affected by heatwave or an early freeze that year.)
Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

- 80%

Many other countries had shortfalls of 5–10%, and the EU total production was down by 10 million tonnes, or 10%.

Grapes

The heat wave greatly accelerated the ripening of grapes; also, the heat dehydrates

Dehydration

In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...

the grapes, making for more concentrated juice

Juice

Juice is the liquid that is naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue.Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or macerating fruit or vegetable flesh without the application of heat or solvents. For example, orange juice is the liquid extract of the fruit of the orange tree...

. By mid-August, the grapes in certain vineyard

Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

s had already reached their nominal sugar content, possibly resulting in 12°–12.5° wines (see alcoholic degree). Because of that, and also of the impending change to rain

Rain

Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...

y weather, the harvest

Harvest

Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...

was started much earlier than usual (e.g. in mid-August for areas that are normally harvested in September).

It is predicted that the wines from 2003, although in scarce quantity, will have exceptional quality, especially in France. The heat wave made Hungary fare extremely well in the Vinalies 2003 International wine contest: a total of nine gold and nine silver medals were awarded to Hungarian winemakers.

Effects on the sea

The anomalous overheating affecting the atmosphere also created anomalies on sea surface stratification in the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

and on the surface currents as well. A seasonal current of the Central Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ionian Stream (AIS), was affected by the warm temperatures, resulting in modifications in its path and intensity. The AIS is important for the reproduction biology of important pelagic

Pelagic fish

Pelagic fish live near the surface or in the water column of coastal, ocean and lake waters, but not on the bottom of the sea or the lake. They can be contrasted with demersal fish, which do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish which are associated with coral reefs.The marine pelagic...

commercial fish species, so the heatwave may have influenced indirectly the stocks of these species. Further studies will be addressed in this direction.