Let’s take a step away from the Eurovision world and back into the real world and discuss the heatwave that is gripping Europe and beyond this summer. It has now been confirmed that, on Wednesday, the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi recorded its hottest temperature EVER as the city reached 40.5°C. It’s certainly a change from our time there last November for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest when the temperature dipped below zero!
Tbilisi needs a Waterfall
As revealed by Etienne Kapikian of Météo-France, the 2017 Junior Eurovision host city broke its all-time temperature record on July 4th by 0.1°C. The previous record had been achieved on August 1st, 2000 on which Tbilisi recorded a temperature of 40.4°C. This is nine degrees Celsius higher than Tbilisi’s July average high of 31.2°C.
Georgia’s neighbouring capital city of Yerevan in Armenia and Baku in Azerbaijan are recording even higher temperatures than Tbilisi, although not quite breaking records. Baku recorded 42.7°C last Sunday (July 1st) and a day later, Yerevan recorded 42°C.
#Canicule sur le #Caucase🔥: après 42.7°C à Bakou🇦🇿 le 1er/07, 42°C à Yerevan🇦🇲 le 2/07, c'est au tour de #Tbilissi, capitale de #Géorgie🇬🇪, d'observer un nouveau record absolu de chaleur avec 🌡️40.5°C ce 4/07 (ancien : 40.4 le 1er août 2000) #Tbilisi #თბილისი #heatwave pic.twitter.com/PRXttBqPrr
— Etienne Kapikian (@EKMeteo) July 4, 2018
From the far east of Europe to the far west…
It’s not just the far east of the Eurovision world which is burning up. Over in the far west of Europe, the United Kingdom is also feeling the heat… and not just in the World Cup. The Northern Irish capital city of Belfast recorded its all-time record high temperature of 29.5°C on June 28th. Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, also recorded its hottest day ever a day later as the mercury rose to 31.9°C.
As stated by the Washington Post, “all-time heat records have been set all over the world in the past week”. Climate change is an important issue that the globe must tackle, otherwise, record-breaking heatwaves will become the norm. We hope everyone stays safe in these record-breaking temperatures!
Tell us what the weather is like where you are! Are you in the midst of a heatwave… or are you experiencing a normal summer? Let us know in the comments below!