Several fires broke out in Greece on Monday where seaside areas were evacuated as the thermometer in many parts of Europe rose above 40 degrees, while the UN said on Tuesday it had verified and confirmed the record high of 48.8 degrees. C recorded in Sicily in 2021 as the temperature record set in continental Europe, likely to be broken during the current heat wave. 1,200 children had to leave summer camps threatened by flames fanned by strong winds near Loutraki, about 80 km west of Athens.
In Kouvaras, about 50 km east of the Greek capital, another fire raged, spreading to Avavyssos, 40 km southeast of Athens, in the densely populated region of Attica, however, Greece has been experiencing a heat wave since Thursday with peaks of more than 44 ° C in the center of its territory.
In Italy, records were not broken on Monday, with 39°C in the shade in Rome. The maximum temperature, 43°C, was recorded in Agrigento, Sicily, and Taranto in Puglia, also in the south. The peak of heat is expected on Tuesday in Sardinia, an island where the mercury could reach 48°C and exceed the 2021 record.
“We live in Texas and it’s really hot there. We thought we’d escape the heat, but here it’s even hotter,” Colman Peavy, a 30-year-old American tourist who is visiting Italy with his wife Ana, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In Spain, temperatures, “abnormally high” for the season, according to the national meteorological agency (Aemet), exceeded 44°C late Monday afternoon in several towns in the Andalusian provinces of Cordoba and Jaen in the south of the country, on the first day of the third heat wave of the summer in Spain, just a few days after the previous one.
In the southern region of Murcia, 44°C was locally reached, 42 near Alicante. The situation will worsen on Tuesday as some places will end up at “10 to 15°C” above normal. The alert will turn red over Aragon (north), Catalonia (northeast) and the island of Mallorca (east), with 42°C to 44°C expected. The intense heat episode should last until Wednesday, before declining from Thursday.
In Europe, warming is twice as fast as the global average, experts note, and Mediterranean countries are particularly affected. “The warm air that generally descends over the African promontory creating deserts, has moved towards Europe. In this sense, we can speak of a tropicalization of the climate,” Claudio Cassardo, a meteorologist and professor at the University of Turin, told AFP.
The situation is sometimes more delicate for workers exposed to very high temperatures. “I can’t stand the heat,” confesses Marian, a taxi driver from Bucharest. “That’s why tomorrow I’m taking my wife and kids to the mountains,” the 51-year-old adds, lamenting “the times when seasons were seasons in Romania,” where the mercury nears Monday’s 40°C.
