Mediterranean heat in Eastern Europe by 2050

By mid-century, climate change will give Poland and Hungary weather patterns similar to Spain and Sicily, the World Bank warned this week.

By 2050, the two Eastern European countries will experience 37 days per year above 30 degrees Celsius, up from 22 days in 1999.

The World Bank’s report examined what central Asian and Eastern European countries need to do to adapt to climate change.

The report warned that the effects of climate change will be more acute in Europe and Central Asia due to poor environmental management during the Soviet era.

“The impact of climate change in the Europe and Central Asia region will be more significant than expected due to a lingering post-Soviet legacy of environmental mismanagement and the poor state of much of the region’s infrastructure,” the World Bank said.

“From Poland to Kazakhstan, from the Arctic circle to the Caucasus, nations face the likelihood of more frequent floods, droughts, heatwaves, storms and forest fires.”

Risks highlighted by the report include communist-era pollution trapped in soils that could leak out, and poorly constructed ports, roads, and houses that may not crumble with the effects of global warming.