Europe’s heat is set to intensify as temperatures are forecast to peak at 47C (116.6F) on Wednesday in the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia, while wildfires in Greece continue to rage.
Parts of the Balkans are also under a red heat alert, with Greece and Turkey set to experience higher temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The latest blast of Saharan heat could test Europe’s record of 48.8C, set in Sicily two years ago, after records were broken in Rome and Catalonia on Tuesday.
The danger level from wildfires around Athens remains very high amid near-gale force winds, while another blaze on the Greek island of Rhodes has forced the evacuation of three villages to nearby beaches.
As US climate envoy John Kerry met with China’s Vice President Han Zheng on his final day of talks in Beijing, man-made global warming is turbocharging extreme heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere. Following the hottest ever June, temperature records are being broken from Tokyo and Phoenix to Turpan in China, underscoring the threat posed by fossil fuels to a changing climate.
Almost 100 fireman, supported by three jets, are trying to extinguish the Rhodes fire, which isn’t threatening homes after starting late Tuesday evening. Winds across the Aegean islands and the Attica region around Athens will be as strong as 32 to 38 miles per hour on Wednesday, before another blast of Saharan heat hits the country tomorrow.
Firefighters have contained some of the blazes around the Greek capital, but the fires are still burning in the region near Loutraki, a resort 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Athens. The national highway to the town is open again, while the Motor Oil Hellas SA refinery that’s in the area is no longer under threat.
Four firefighting planes from France and Italy that were sent by the European Union are already helping Greek authorities, with more jets being dispatched from Israel. Another blaze that spread from Dervenoxoria to Mandra over the past two days is still burning north of Athens, with five fire jets and eight helicopters trying to control it.
“We are experiencing a heatwave across southern Europe already causing devastating consequences in Greece, with thousands of hectares burned in a short period of time,” the EU’s Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic said.
In the Swiss canton of Valais, 150 firefighters are looking to extinguish a forest blaze that forced the evacuation of a number of Alpine villages.
While a fire in Spain’s La Palma is close to being fully extinguished, Canary Islands authorities are advising residents to stay indoors due to the poor air quality. Most of the country continues to face a high risk of wildfires.
Italy’s ministry of health warned of emergency heat wave conditions in 23 major cities, including Rome, Venice and Palermo. Nine French regions in the southeast of the country have also been put on a heatwave alert.
The WMO said that soaring minimum night time temperatures — with parts of Sardinia not dropping below 34C — are putting lives at risk, increasing the chance of heart attacks as the body is unable to recover from the daytime heat.
“The minimum temperature is more important for health and failing critical infrastructure during extreme heatwaves,” said senior WMO extreme heat adviser John Nairn.
The intense heat is affecting sea temperatures too, with parts of the Mediterranean expected to reach over 30C, according to the WMO. Those marine heatwaves could impact the migration of species and cause invasive species to arrive into European waters with consequences for fisheries and local fauna.
By contrast, northern Europe will continue to see cooler weather over the next 10 days. Temperatures in the UK and Nordic countries will stay below seasonal averages, with Oslo more than 5C below the norm on Sunday, according to forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc.
--With assistance from Laura Millan, Paula Doenecke, John Ainger and Flavia Rotondi.
(Updates with latest on wildfires from fourth paragraph, comment from EU commissioner in eighth and details throughout)
Author: Eamon Akil Farhat, Sotiris Nikas and Lars Mucklejohn
