London's climate 'will resemble Barcelona's by 2050,' study reveals

[Celerity]

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation201907londons-climate-will-resemble-barcelonas-2050-study-reveals

In a little over 30 years, Londoners will swelter in the summer much like Barcelona does today. Edinburgh’s climate will resemble Paris’s, while Cardiff’s will align with conditions currently commonplace in Uraguay’s capital, Montevideo. Barcelona, meanwhile will experience the aridity of Adeleide, Madrid will feel like Marrakesh, and Milan like Dallas, Texas.

This is the near-future world of a study authored by Zurich's Crowther Lab, and published this week in science journal PLOS One. The work seeks to illuminate the reality of global climate shifts by aligning the projected future conditions of a city with the current climate of another elsewhere in the world. The study authors hope the result is a scenario easier to visualise than ‘data and facts alone’.

“By focussing the outputs of this research on ‘major’ (highly populated) cities, we hope that it enables people to visualise their own climate future," says Thomas Elliott, one of the study's authors, in an email. "Our aim is to make this research more tangible, and by doing so, inspire people to act.”

And however much the residents of London or Cardiff might initially welcome the prospect of a Mediterranean or South American climate, the implications make for a grim reality – with drought, the discomfort of frequent heatwaves such as those experienced across Europe already this summer, turbulent weather systems and the ecological impact of rising temperatures. At the extremes, the predicted conditions bring with them issues as yet unseen by the cities in question, such as acute water shortages.

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Stockholm will be as warm as Budapest by 2050, study warns

https://www.thelocal.se/20190712/stockholm-will-be-as-warm-as-budapest-by-2050-study-warns

In 30 years, Stockholm is on course to be as warm as Budapest is today, according to a new study which looked at predicted climate and weather changes in cities across the world over the near future. The researchers from Zürich Technical University analyzed the climate in 520 cities using the so-called RCP 4.5 scenario which assumes a significant reduction in emissions, although not as significant as required by the Paris Agreement.

They found that 77 percent of the world's cities will see a drastically changed climate over the next 30 years, according to the study published in scientific journal Plus One. That means cities in the northern hemisphere will see a climate similar to the current climate of cities more than 1,000 kilometres further south, with London becoming as warm as today's Barcelona, Seattle as warm as San Francisco, and Stockholm as warm as Budapest.

The study could be a way to create a picture of how Stockholm might look in the future, said SMHI climate researcher Markku Rummukainen, but he added that it wasn't a comprehensive overview.

"Comparisons can give a sense of what changes to the climate mean. But at the same time, you should keep in mind that the changes are more complex than just the temperature. If you just think that Stockholm is getting a Budapest climate, you might think 'that doesn't sound so awful'. But in reality the problem is much more serious," warned Rummukainen.

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