The second heat wave of the summer looms over the Region and promises to be extremely stifling. With little time to recover from the 47 degrees that the mercury reached last week in areas such as Alcantarilla, ‘Caronte’ (the boatman of Hades), an unofficial name as the Italian Meteorological Society has baptized this anticyclone, threatens to cause a authentic hell on earth, at least until tomorrow Wednesday. The extreme temperatures of ‘Caronte’ are also accompanied by another mass of very warm and dry air with suspended dust from North Africa, as happened last week.
What is coming up from today are two very hot days, with maximum temperatures well above normal and warnings for values that exceed the usual thresholds for this month of July, as confirmed by the State Meteorological Agency ( Aemet). Yesterday there were already yellow warnings in the Northwest, Valle del Guadalentín, Lorca and Águilas regions, and in the Altiplano, due to maximum temperatures of 39 in the first two and 38 in the third.
TWO DATA
-
40
degrees will be registered today in the Altiplano and Vega del Segura regions. -
25
degrees will be the minimum temperature, during the night, in inland and coastal areas.
«This Tuesday the thermometer will continue to rise and the minimums will not change significantly. An orange warning has been issued for maximum temperatures of 40 degrees in the Altiplano and Vega del Segura regions and another yellow alert for maximum temperatures of 39 degrees in the Northwest and Valle del Guadalentín regions, “explains the Aemet territorial spokesperson, Juan Esteban Palenzuela.
The only region that will escape the sweltering heat is Campo de Cartagena and Mazarrón. The heat wave will attack with more force tomorrow, when the temperatures will continue to rise, with variable and weak winds, having its southeast in the afternoon. It will be the peak day of the heat wave, with an orange warning for maximum temperatures of 43 degrees in Vega del Segura, 42 in the Guadalentín Valley, Lorca and Águilas. In these areas, the thermometer could occasionally reach 44 degrees, the threshold for the red warning to be activated due to extreme heat. For its part, it is expected that there will be 41 degrees in the Altiplano and Northwest and 38 degrees in Campo de Cartagena and Mazarrón, with heat peaks of 40 degrees in areas of the interior of the region.
The unions recall that companies have the obligation to ensure the health of their workers; “It is investing in life”
The heat wave ends on Thursday and the highs will drop, although they will remain above normal on these dates. There could be some cloudy intervals that evolve in the interior with the possibility of some dry-type storms. The orange notices will disappear, but the yellow ones may remain
If during the day the heat is going to be suffocating, at night it will be unbearable, especially on Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures that in some regions, mainly on the coast, low-lying areas such as the surroundings of the city of Murcia or Lorca that are not to drop below 25 degrees, which is known as torrid nights. “In the rest of the Region, the minimum will not drop below 20 degrees, or tropical nights.”
The predicted values will be, in principle, similar to the first heat wave last week, which leaves the middle of July “quite extraordinary in terms of maximum temperatures,” concludes Palenzuela.
Given the high temperatures that will occur between today and tomorrow, which has made it necessary to activate alert level 3 within the National Preventive Action Plan against the effects of excessive temperatures on health’, the Ministry of Health recommends extreme precautions and launches a message of prudence in the face of the high temperatures that will be recorded in the coming days in the Region of Murcia. This plan aims to prevent and reduce the negative effects of heat on health, especially in the most vulnerable groups – young children, pregnant women, the chronically ill – and in people who do sports and work outside. In this sense, the unions remind that companies have the obligation to ensure the health of their workers.
shaded areas
These measures include enabling shaded areas where they can reduce body temperature and have access to fresh water at any time and in any situation; avoid activity in the central areas of the day, “from 1:00 p.m., which is precisely from which the State Meteorological Agency issues warnings for extreme risk of temperatures,” says Juan Blázquez, Secretary of Occupational Health of Comisiones Obreras (CC OO).
The clothing provided to workers must be made of natural fabric and avoid synthetics, which further increase the sensation of heat; establish breaks and be aware that the health and life of workers can be guaranteed, “and if not, suspend the activity,” warns Blázquez.
They also remember that there is a Labor Inspectorate mailbox to denounce, anonymously, irregularities that occur in any company. Specifically, from UGT they point out that last week five workers suffered heat stroke in the Region and that these cases are being investigated.
“This shows us that there are still businessmen who do not value the life or health of their own workers. For this reason, we ask labor inspectors to make a greater effort than they are already making to discover companies that are failing to comply and are putting the lives of their workers at risk, since death may be imminent. Health is not an expense, but an investment. We are talking about investing in life,” says Encarna del Baño, UGT’s occupational health secretary.
Restrictions on access to the mountain due to the risk of fire
The Community once again applies limitations in protected natural spaces and in public forests as measures to prevent forest fires. Again, it regulates activities and access to prevent fires due to the high temperatures forecast for the next few days. To this end, it has adopted extraordinary prevention measures, which will be controlled by environmental agents, which will be applied from 6 am today until 7 am next Friday. The resolution limits road traffic for motor vehicles and machinery and the closure of accesses through forest roads that cross public forests. The measure safeguards the transit necessary to access homes or properties and forestry operations. Nor will the environmental monitoring function be limited.
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