‘Tropical nights’ in European holiday hotspots are soaring | Science, Climate & Tech News

‘Tropical Nights’ may sound like a party on the beach, or a refreshing cocktail, but reality is less entertaining.

In fact, tropical nights – when the temperature does not fall below 20c – have become an increasingly common, sweaty match in Europe since the 1980s, and it disrupts both lives and holidays in unexpected ways.

Last year, the Southern European summer destinations – including the sin -drenched banks of southern Italy, Croatia, Turkey and Greece – have thrown by a new data by a record -23 tropical nights.

This is almost three times the average of just eight, and far above the previous record of 16 in 2012, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change service said.

Tropical nights mean a sleepless, sticky time in bed, when sweat pages cling to the skin and open windows, no rest time.

Dann Mitchell of the UK’s with Office said that the night temperatures are “very important to our health” because it is the part of every day when we recover. And if that can’t do that, it brings a ‘whole lot of issues’, he warned.

These swelling figures come in the hottest year ever in Europe. But they are not once. Climate change makes the atmosphere warmer and brings ‘heat stress’ during the day as well as at night.

Last year, there were also 66 days of ‘strong heat stress’ in Southern Europe – when daily temperature reaches a ‘feeling -like’ temperature of 32 ° C or higher – which far exceeds the average of 29 days.

The price of sleepless nights

Rising day heights, accompanied by swoel nights, push the boundaries of human comfort and health.

Madeleine Thomson, head of climatic impacts and adaptation to Wellcome Health Research Foundation, said: “Europe is warming up, and we are not prepared for the toll our health will take.”

“Deaths due to heat stress are the most visible impact. But extreme heat doesn’t just kill – it also increases the risk of heart disease, complications for pregnancy and poor mental health.”

In Britain’s scorching summer of 2022, an extra 2 800 people over 65 It is estimated to be dead of heat -related reasons.

Children are especially vulnerable because they are small and warm up so faster. Pregnant women, whose bodies are already struggling with temperature regulation, are also in danger.

While air conditioning “helps us to survive”, it is energy -intensive, increasingly unaffordable and can lead to power dwelling when the system is overloaded, says Ilan Kelman, Professor of Disasters and Health of Reading University.

Earth, wine and fire

But it is not just tourists who experience the heat.

“The economic consequences are profound,” said Dr Hannah Cloke, a hydrocreat at the University of Reading, including farmers struggling with crops and crusty soils.

Wine harvest was off last year, and was described by the industry as ‘gloomy’ and ‘horrible’ respectively.

Meanwhile, while olive trees were melted by heat and drought, sidewalks in Italy melted and A fire near Athens has burned Nearly 11,000 acres (110 km2).

Intrepid Travel of the holiday business said it “certainly an increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events that affected our travels in Europe”.

It adapts to this ‘new reality’ by scraping hiking holidays in Turkey in July and August and taking new summer excursions to Scandinavia – with British reservations last year by 40%.

Google told Sky News that it had not detected a new, fast -growing tendency for searches such as “summer vacation in Europe, and” which summer vacation destinations do not have the risk of wildfires in July “.

A warmer future

The record -breaking summer of 2024 may have been extremely, but it is part of a long -term shift, Copernicus said.

Europe is the fastest heating continent, which gets warm twice as fast as the world average – partly due to its overlap with the Arctic.

The weather still differs wildly, so scientists cannot predict the exact number of tropical nights or heat waves this year, but they are confident in the trend.

Madeleine Thomson, head of climatic impacts at Wellcome, said: “We need to reduce emissions and adjust our cities. Simple changes, such as adding green spaces and waterways, can help cool urban areas and protect public health.”