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During Europe’s heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store had to close for a week MILAN -- During Europe's heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store had to close for a week. A truck of rented generators blocked her door as they fed power to the central Roman neighborhood hit by a blackout as temperatures surged. The main culprit: air conditioning. The period — in which temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) — coincided with peak electricity use that came close to Italy’s all-time high, hitting a peak load of more than 59 gigawatts on July 19. That neared a July 2015 record. Intensive electricity use knocked out the network not only near the central Campo de Fiori neighborhood, where Peroni operates her shop, but elsewhere in the Italian capital. Demand in that second July week surged 30%, correlating to a heat wave that had persisted already for weeks, according to the capital’s electricity company ARETI. Like many Rom...

Temperatures are rising in Japan and summer is coming fast TOKYO -- Temperatures are rising in Japan and summer is coming fast. Cherry blossoms are blooming sooner than ever before, chiffon-pink that’s traditionally heralded spring for the nation popping up just two weeks into March. In Osaka, temperatures soared to 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) on March 22, a record for that time of year. Tottori, in the southwest, hit 25.8 C (78 F) on the same day, the highest in 140 years, according to climatologist Maximiliano Herrera. Tottori’s temperatures usually hover around 12 C (54 F) in March. With thermometers already shooting upward and fossil fuel use that feeds climate change still creeping up around the world, Japan is set for another sweltering summer and is at growing risk of flooding and landslides. The nation is scrambling to protect communities from warming and has pledged to slash emissions , but in the short term the worsening weather remains a threat. “The risks f...