Global Heat.

While the temperature has cooled down a bit on the (Northern) American east coast, it remains pretty hot in many parts of the country which are also hit by a heat wave. (California, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois).

This however seems nothing compared to Europe:

• In Paris, the temperatures hit 37 celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit) earlier this week. This may be nice when you want to pretend you're in tropical Paris (see picture below) but about 20 people may have already died in France because of the heat.
• In southern Britain, July was the highest recorded since 1911 with 36.3 celsius (97.34°F) earlier this week. Not only is it hot, but it is also very dry.
  
• In Prague, the temperature of 34.3 celcius (93.74°F) beat the 141 year-old record.
• And of course, the Poles have their own way of dealing with the issue - Members of Poland's ruling conservative party prayed for rain at a special mass in a parliamentary chapel on Thursday to end a drought plaguing wheat, potato and dairy farmers (Reuter) [What's next - raindance?]
  

Now if you're not impressed with those figures - compared to the 3 digit Fahrenheit numbers in the US, remember that these are highly unusual in what is supposed to the temperate climate of Europe, and keep in mind that in European cities, there is hardly any air-conditioning (since it has been temperate, there has been no need).

No matter how wrong our perceptions may be and how this may not be a definite sign from a scientific perspective, I cant' help thinking that this is another "sign" that the warming is global and that it is here to stay.

Unless of course, this is a gigantic liberal conspiracy to promote Al Gore's movie!


NOTE: if tou have more doubts that global warming is real and human-related, read this scientific review by the Intergovernemental Panel on Climate Change, or this by the National Academy of Sciences. Or go see "An Invenient Truth".