This is Still Not Normal

Last month I posted a review of Klimadashboard's European Heat Tracker, which visualizes how many people across Europe are exposed to extreme heat in real time. Since then, temperatures have continued to exceed seasonal norms across much of the continent, and new mapped visualizations have continued to document the unfolding heatwaves.

 El País' How Extreme is this Heat? uses a series of maps to show how exceptional temperatures have been across Europe during June and July. The story begins by comparing typical June temperatures with conditions on June 23, when the first major heatwave was largely confined to the Iberian Peninsula and France. As the sequence progresses, the maps reveal the rapid spread of extreme heat across central and northern Europe and into the Balkans by the end of the month.

The maps highlight just how unusual the conditions have been. June temperatures were as much as 7°C above the historical average across large parts of Europe, particularly in the west. Germany also recorded its highest temperature on record, reaching 41.7°C in Coschen. The final maps show that, while the latest heatwave may not reach the same peak temperatures as the one in late June, temperature anomalies of between 6°C and 10°C above normal are still forecast to affect large areas of the continent, especially France.

Reuters' Tracking Western Europe’s heatwave uses its own Climate Monitor map to visualize 'how today’s temperatures compare to the historic average'. This map reveals temperature anomalies in real-time, showing where conditions are unusually hot or cold compared to historical averages.

Click anywhere on the globe and the map highlights the selected location's current temperature anomaly - showing how many degrees warmer or cooler today's forecast high is than the historic average for that date. For today the map says that "The average high across Western Europe is forecast to be 83.8°F, which is +10.0° above the normal high for July 15 from 1961-1990."

This is not normal.

Hat-tip: Datawrapper's Data Vis Dispatch