The heatwave of 2003

More than 20,000 people died after a record-breaking heatwave left Europe sweltering in August 2003. The period of extreme heat is thought to be the warmest for up to 500 years, and many European countries experienced their highest temperatures on record.

Physical Impacts

Effects of the heatwave

Immediate responses to the heatwave

What happened to cause the heatwave?

Physical Impacts

Low river flows and lake levels
The River Danube in Serbia fell to its lowest level in 100 years. Bombs and tanks from World War 2, which had been submerged under water for decades, where revealed, causing a danger to people swimming in the rivers. Reservoirs and rivers used for public water supply and hydro-electric schemes either dried up or ran extremely low.

Forest fires
The lack of rainfall meant very dry conditions occurred over much of Europe. Forest fires broke out in many countries. In Portugal 215,000 hectares area of forest were destroyed. This is an area the same size as Luxembourg. It is estimated millions of tonnes of topsoil were eroded in the year after the fires as the protection of the forest cover was removed. This made river water quality poor when the ash and soil washed into rivers.

The satellite image shown in Fig. 1 shows forest fires in southern Portugal and Spain in September 2003. The fires are shown by the red dots and smoke is in white.

Melting glaciers
Extreme snow and glacier-melt in the European Alps led to increased rock and ice falls in the mountains.

Effects of the heatwave

About 15,000 people died due to the heat in France, which led to a shortage of space to store dead bodies in mortuaries. Temporary mortuaries were set up in refrigeration lorries. There were also heat-related deaths in the UK (2,000), Portugal (2,100), Italy (3,100), Holland (1,500) and Germany (300).

Human effects

• Heat-stroke — normally we sweat, and this keeps us cool on hot days. On very hot days our bodies may not be able to keep cool enough by sweating alone, and our core body temperature may rise. This can lead to headaches, dizziness and even death.
• Dehydration — this is the loss of water from our bodies. It can cause tiredness and problems with breathing and heart rates.
• Sunburn — damage to the skin which can be painful and may increase the risks of getting skin cancer.
• Air pollution — it is thought that one third of the deaths caused by the heatwave in the UK were caused by poor air quality.
• Drowning — some people drowned when trying to cool off in rivers and lakes.

We provide the Department of Health with heatwave warnings (Heat-Health Watch) to prepare the NHS, health professionals, carers and the general public for the effects of extreme heat.
You can find out more about our Heat-Health Watch warnings in the weather section of the Met Office website.

Summers as hot as 2003 could happen every other year by the year 2050 as a result of climate change due to human activities.

Environment and social effects

• Water supplies — drinking water supplies were affected in some parts of the UK and hosepipe bans introduced.
• Tourism — many parts of the UK reported increased levels of tourism as people decided to holiday in the UK while the weather was unusually dry and hot.
• Agriculture — many chickens, pigs and cows died during the heat in Europe and crops failed in the dry conditions. This led to higher food prices. It is thought to have cost European farming 13.1 billion euros.
• Transport — some railway tracks buckled in the heat. The London Underground became unbearable. Some road surfaces melted. Low river levels prevented some boats from sailing.
• The London Eye closed on one day as it became too hot in the cabins.
• Energy — two nuclear power plants to close down in Germany. These rely on water for cooling in the power generation process.

In pictures