Heat Records Fall as Europe Heat and Power Impacts Move East
(Bloomberg) — The deadly heat wave that’s set temperature records across western Europe for more than a week has shifted east to scorch Hungary, Romania and the Balkans.
Budapest is expected to top 40C (104F) on Tuesday, according to models from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Belgrade and Bucharest will reach 38C and 37C, respectively, on Monday.
Red warnings for extreme heat have been issued in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovakia. Similar alerts are still in place for parts of southern and western Switzerland.
The intense and unusually early heat event underscores how climate change is transforming summers in the world’s fastest-warming continent. The heat wave was fueled by a high-pressure heat dome and atmospheric shifts linked to a developing El Niño.
Germany broke its temperature record for a third consecutive day on Sunday, with preliminary DWD data showing a high of 41.7C in Coschen, Brandenburg. Transport services were disrupted in several cities after tram tracks buckled in the intense heat. New all-time heat records were also set in Hungary and the Czech Republic on Sunday, with 40.7C recorded in Budapest and 41.9C in Doksany, according to government forecasters.
The heat wave forced MVM Paksi Paksi Atomeromu Zrt to reduce generation at the Paks nuclear plant by 650 megawatts over the weekend due to warm waters in Danube, which are used to cool Hungary’s only reactor site. Prime Minister Peter Magyar warned that the worst was yet to come.
“Where possible, employers should arrange for remote work or shortened working hours,” he said in a social media post. “Postpone any work scheduled to be done outside on Monday or Tuesday.”
Average Hungarian day-ahead power prices for Monday climbed to €222.73 per megawatt-hour, almost 80% higher than a week earlier, according to the HUPX power exchange. Some quarter-hour contracts traded as high as €784.91 per megawatt-hour.
The most extreme heat has subsided in western Europe after breaking temperature records in France, where health authorities reported more than 1,000 excess deaths. In Spain, monitoring from the Institute of Health shows more than 800 additional deaths across the country.
Still, much of western Europe is forecast to see unseasonably warm temperatures for weeks. Weather models also show signs of high pressure returning in early July, which could bring another round of heat to the UK, France, Spain and Germany.
Power prices climbed as traders weighed the possibility of more extreme temperatures next week. French front-month power prices rose as much as 27% to €81.01 per megawatt-hour, the highest level since January, according to Epex Spot data.
German front-month power prices gained as much as 9% on Monday, reaching their highest level since March.
–With assistance from Michal Kubala, Thomas Escritt and Laura Millan.
(Updates with new info from paragraph five)
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