By Susann Sika
The summers of recent years have been hot, but not unusual from a meteorological perspective. According to researchers at Leipzig University, though, the next extreme summer would far exceed anything we have experienced so far.
To be prepared for this, it is important to understand what a "summer of the century" might look like in the current climate. This is precisely what researchers at Leipzig University have investigated in a new study.
They found that late summer is now warming significantly more than early summer and that the soil tends to be drier than in previous summers.
"As a result, there is now a longer period in late summer during which favorable weather conditions, combined with very dry soil, can lead to extreme and prolonged heat," says the study's lead author, Dr. Peter Pfleiderer from the Institute for Meteorology at Leipzig University, summarizing one of the study's findings.
It has just been published in the journal Earth's Future.
Late summer heat is intensifying
Through their analysis of "summers of the century," the researchers show that the changes generally expected in summer are even more pronounced during these rare, extreme summers. At the same time, the increase in temperatures in European summers is greater than in other parts of the world.
The study shows just how intense prolonged heat waves can become in the current climate and how people, local authorities and society as a whole should adapt.
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