A heatwave sweeping across southwestern Europe is expected to peak in Spain on Thursday, with sweltering temperatures already fueling wildfires in the Iberian Peninsula and France. The warming phenomenon, the second this summer, is forecast to last until the middle of the week, with southern Spain expected. experience some of the most brutal temperatures. “For Thursday, we expect it to be the hottest day of this heat wave,” Spain’s state weather agency AEMET said.
Valleys around the three major rivers Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Tagus will experience stifling temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), he said. Most of Spain was placed on high alert on Wednesday, and AEMET said some regions were “suffocating”, particularly in worst-hit Andalusia in the south, Extremadura in the south-west and Galicia in the north-west. The country’s health ministry told people to drink plenty. fluids, wear light clothing and stay in the shade or in air-conditioned rooms so as not to affect their “vital functions”.
The highest temperature on Wednesday was recorded in the Andalusian city of Almonte, where the mercury reached 45.6 degrees Celsius at 17:30 (1530 GMT). Several other southern cities, such as Seville and Cordoba, experienced temperatures above 44 degrees. In western Spain, near the border with Portugal, forest fires have already destroyed at least 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres). More than 70,300 hectares of forest burned in Spain between January 1 and July 3, the government said, almost double the average over the past 10 years.
Temperatures are expected to ease in Spain at the end of the week, but the sultry weather could continue in northwest Europe as it moves towards France and Britain.Britain issued an “amber” alert – the second highest of three levels – while one UK climate official said there was a chance the UK’s highest temperature, 38.7C recorded on July 25, 2019 at Cambridge Botanic Gardens, would be exceeded.
The meteorological services in France also warned that the situation “will become intentions.A forest fire in southwestern France has been raging since Tuesday, tearing up 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of pine trees south of Bordeaux and forcing the evacuation of 150 people from their homes.Near Dune Pilat – Europe’s tallest sand dune – another fire has consumed about 700 hectares of old pines, officials there said, prompting the evacuation of about 6,000 campers near the dune.Further inland, 500 people around the French village of Guillos were evacuated as their homes were threatened by advancing fire.”Flames were shooting at the tops of trees 30 meters high,” mayor Mylene Doreau told. We saw them moving towards the village, it was scary.
About 600 firefighters are battling the flames in the region, assisted by water bomber aircraft. To reduce the risk of an accidental fire, some cities – including Toulouse and Lourdes – made changes to their Bastille Day celebrations on Thursday. Nimes has simply done away with traditional fireworks altogether.
‘End of the world’
Spectators at the annual Tour de France, which is currently crossing the French Alps, watched riders tackle some of the cycling race’s toughest climbs in a blazing sun on Wednesday.”She’s really feeling the heat. I’m just standing here watching,” French student Jean Gosselin, 18, said sympathetically.According to scientists, heat waves are becoming more frequent due to climate change, with the previous ones in France, Portugal and Spain taking place just last month.Last week, an avalanche triggered by the collapse of the largest glacier in the Italian Alps – due to unusually high temperatures – killed 11 people.
In Greece, a helicopter helping to fight a forest fire on the island of Samos crashed into the Aegean Sea on Wednesday, the coast guard said on Wednesday. Two crew members were seriously injured.And in Portugal – on alert for several days for forest fires – one person died in a wildfire, authorities said, after a body was found in a burned area in the northern Aveiro region. In Leiria, central Portugal, local residents fought to save their village when fires engulfed them.”Everything burned yesterday except the houses because the people are very brave and defended them themselves,” said 77-year-old farmer Adelino Rodrigues.“The fire brigade arrived much later. It brought back memories of the devastating forest fires in 2017 that claimed more than 100 lives in Portugal.”It seemed like the end of the world,” he recalled.
For more read: https://phys.org/news/2022-07-western-europe-heatwave-peak-spain.html
