The summer of 2023 is marked, in France as in the rest of the world, by abnormally high temperatures, well above seasonal norms, one of the most direct signs of climate change, according to scientists.
The northern hemisphere begins Monday, July 17, a new week of oppressive heat, one of the deadliest weather events, as recently recalled by the World Meteorological Organization. Last summer in Europe, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths, according to a recent study.
In France, seven southern departments have been placed on heat wave orange vigilance for Tuesday, Météo-France announced. These are Pyrénées-Orientales, Vaucluse, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud. It is a “non-exceptional heatwave episode, but the persistence of which requires particular vigilance, especially for sensitive or exposed people”, underlined the meteorological organization.
According to Météo-France, the rise in mercury will continue on Tuesday “with maximum temperatures above 30°C”, except on the Channel coasts and the Atlantic coast. In the South, temperatures will be between 34°C and 38°C and the nights will remain very hot in the departments affected by the orange heatwave vigilance. On Wednesday, “the heat will be in decline” from the Occitanie region to Rhône-Alpes, but it will still persist for “several days” in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Corsica.
In Italy, sixteen cities are on red alert across the country, with mercury hovering around 36-37°C, but perceived temperatures that could exceed 40°C. Rome to reach 42°C on Tuesday. Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean, could even experience a temperature of 48°C.
With these extreme heat, Italian farmers are facing a 10% drop in milk production and rising costs to cool animals with the use of fans and showers in barns, according to Coldiretti, the main agricultural union.
In addition, the UN World Meteorological Organization announced on Monday that it had verified and confirmed the record of 48.8°C recorded in Sicily in 2021 as the temperature record set in continental Europe. The previous verified temperature record in continental Europe was set in Athens, with 48°C measured on July 10, 1977.
In Spain, the mercury exceeded 44 ° C late Monday afternoon in several cities in the Andalusian provinces of Cordoba and Jaen, in the south of the country, measured the national meteorological agency (Aemet), on the first day of the country’s third summer heat wave. The situation will worsen on Tuesday as, in some places, the mercury could be “between 10°C and 15°C” above normal, according to Aemet.
The consequences of this high heat have already been felt in the Canary Islands, on the island of La Palma, where a fire ravaged 3,500 hectares this weekend and forced 4,000 people to temporarily leave their homes.
In Greece, where temperatures are expected to drop slightly – a temperature of up to 41 ° C is expected, despite everything, in the center of the country – the Acropolis, in Athens, reopened normally on Monday, after three days of closure to the hottest hours.
A forest fire, fanned by strong winds, broke out on Monday in Kouvaras, about 30 kilometers east of Athens, Greek firefighters said, as authorities ordered the evacuation as a precaution of the surrounding seaside areas.
From Florida to California via Texas, a large part of the United States found itself again on Sunday under the influence of a heat wave described as “oppressive” by the weather services, which predict several records of temperatures. In Death Valley, California, one of the hottest places on the planet, the thermometer read 51°C on Saturday evening, and we expected up to 54°C in the following hours.
In addition to the high temperatures, southern California is burning due to several very violent fires still in progress, which have already ravaged more than 3,000 hectares and led to the evacuation of the population.
In Canada, more than ten million hectares have already burned this year, according to a provisional report with 906 fires still active, including 570 considered to be out of control, according to national figures from the Canadian Interagency Wildfire Center. A second firefighter died battling the blazes, authorities said.
Japan issued heatstroke warnings on Sunday for millions of people living in twenty of its 47 prefectures as near-record temperatures hit much of the country. In Tokyo, the temperature reached 36°C.
China meanwhile broke a temperature record in mid-July on Sunday, with 52.2 ° C recorded in the arid region of Xinjiang (west), according to the country’s weather services.
