Historic heat wave over the Balkans, forecast by international meteorologists for July

Parts of Europe are under a heat wave that started at the beginning of the month and is expected to last for another two weeks.

Historical heat waves with temperatures exceeding the threshold of 40 °C per day are the most intense in the entire Balkan peninsula and Eastern Europe. The seas of the Mediterranean region are also warming, reaching 30 °C in some areas.

According to the forecasts of global weather models, temperatures throughout July will remain well above average in southern and eastern Europe. The most abnormal temperatures are predicted again for the Balkan peninsula, with record values ??this week.

The image below shows the maximum temperature on Sunday 14th July. It shows that the heat wave originates from North Africa and has spread across the Mediterranean region to the Balkan Peninsula and Eastern Europe.

Temperatures have exceeded 30 degrees everywhere, while over 40 have been recorded in Romania, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Greece in recent days.

This persistent weather pattern will continue across Europe until early next week.

July is known as the hottest month of summer, but temperatures these days and in the next 7-10 days will be much higher than average.

The heat dome is the main background feature that causes large global heat waves. During the summer of 2023, there were extreme heat events that continued into September and October. Temperature anomalies have often been off the charts.

Global temperatures from January to June this year exceeded long-term averages.

The heat dome is the feature that leads to these extreme heat events. Usually, it is the main and most dominant feature of summer weather patterns in Europe and North America. However, it can also happen in the fall, as we experienced last year.

We hear the term heat dome when unusually high and abnormal temperatures develop.

The pattern of the upper level ridge, or warm air mass at high altitudes, is known as the Upper Altitude.

So this specific term is used when a broad area of ??high pressure settles over a large part of the continent. If this event is extremely persistent and extreme, it usually stays there for several days or weeks.

The heat dome works like a lid over the pot. The broad heat dome traps a significantly warmer air mass at all levels below, sinking its layers toward the ground. Therefore, the air mass becomes dry and warms significantly when it reaches lower altitudes.

A heat wave associated with such a dome creates clear, stable weather and an often dry air mass with minimal chance of precipitation or even clouds. This occurs due to the sinking of air parcels in the center of the heat dome, which results in increased temperatures.

Especially during the dry summer, drier and warmer weather increases the risk of fires due to the developing drought. Or further aggravation of ongoing, pre-existing, dry conditions. Such examples were the fires in the Pacific Northwest and other parts of western North America in recent years or in Europe (Greece, Portugal, etc.) during the summer season last year.

The heat dome is often the cause of deadly heat waves around the world, as the scorching and excessive heat usually lasts for a very long period. Such heat dome events brought record temperatures to many parts of the world in the summer of 2023, extending into the autumn season.

Average daily, minimum and maximum temperatures under the heat dome are usually well above average. When the heat dome is strong, it defies existing historical records. This becomes particularly striking when this feature develops in early summer or autumn./ Severe-weather.eu

summer season 2024 historic heatwave balkans eastern europe tmax sunday

summer season 2024 historic heatwave balkans eastern europe heat dome