With more than 500 deaths in recent days in Portugal and Spain -in addition to the proliferation of fires- due to the heat wave in the Iberian Peninsula, the The UK issued a red alert for the first time on Friday. before the arrival of high temperatures this weekend.
(You can read: The extreme heat continues in Spain, with maximums of more than 40 °)
This is the second heat wave to hit Europe in less than a month, Some phenomena that are becoming more frequent and intense fueled by climate change, according to scientists.
“The evidence shows that heat waves will become more prevalent and temperatures more extreme in the coming years,” Lorenzo Labrador of the World Meteorological Organization said in Geneva.
This is how the countries in Europe are living it:
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Spain
In Spain, data from the Carlos III Health Institute, dependent on the Ministry of Health, indicates that only during the first three days of the heat wave – between July 10 and 12 – 84 people died as a result of the effects of the temperatures of records that have been recorded these days.
Numerous Spanish towns -Madrid, Seville, Zamora, Orense and others- have seen 40 degrees, although at the moment the national maximum has not been reached, which has been held by the municipality of Montoro (Córdoba) since last summer with 47.2 degrees.
But the thermometers in the province of Badajoz (southwest) already marked 37.2 ºC. At 1:00 p.m. GMT, they exceeded 43 ºC and even higher values were expected in that and other areas of the country. On Thursday, a maximum of 45.4 ºC was recorded in the center of the country.
Portugal
The situation is even worse in Portugal, whose General Directorate of Health recorded, between July 7 and 13, an “excess mortality” of 238 deaths over the usual average on these dates, a figure that it also attributes to the high levels of mercury.
Dehydration, decompensation or chronic illnesses are some of the factors that can suddenly aggravate the state of health of people until they lead to a fatal outcome.
Portugal broke its heat record on Tuesday, with a maximum of 47 degrees registered in Pinhão-Santa Barbara (Viseu), a circumstance that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) fears will be reproduced in several European countries such as the United Kingdom.
(Also: EU proposes limiting heating of public buildings in the face of energy crisis)
United Kingdom
In the case of London, this body warned this Friday that this weekend it could reach 35 degrees, 10 more than the average for the British capital on these dates.
The record registered in the United Kingdom is held by Cambridge with 38.7 degrees since 2019, but the WMO considers that there is a 30% chance of exceeding it in the coming days.
For this reason, the United Kingdom Meteorological Office (Met) issued the red alert for the first time this Friday in the center of England -from London to Manchester and even the Valley of York-, where the heat wave is expected to reach from next Sunday to last until Tuesday.
The Met believes that the thermometer will easily exceed 38 degrees and could reach 40, an official record never reached in the country, so the British authorities have asked the population to take precautions in a “potentially serious” situation, taking into account that their homes are more prepared for rain and fog than for excess of heat
(Keep reading: Portugal: between the fires and the heat wave ‘it seems like the end of the world’)
Similar precautions are planned from the neighboring island by the Irish Meteorological Office (Met Éireann), which also issued a heat alert this Friday, although orange instead of red, for this weekend and the beginning of the next.
His forecasts suggest that the hottest days will be on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, when thermometers could range between 25 and 32 degrees Celsius, “highly unusual” conditions that will continue to “generate discomfort” after twilight with nights between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius, close to what the Irish consider “tropical nights”.
The highest temperature recorded by Met Éireann dates back to the summer of 2006, with 32.3 degrees Celsius in County Roscommon.
Fires
Meanwhile, the most visible face of the heat wave in the Mediterranean continues to be the fire: in France there are three uncontrolled fires and the worst continue to be those in the southern half in the Gironde department, where 7,500 hectares have already burned. and more than 11,300 people have been evacuated.
President Emmanuel Macron himself, who this Friday visited the crisis cell of the Ministry of the Interior to follow the situation, acknowledged that the season is “exceptional for its harshness”, since so far this year it has burned three times as many burned ground in 2020.
As in the Iberian Peninsula, France’s is the second summer heat wave: although it started a bit later, it has pushed the mercury to 38 degrees and Paris is expected to hit 41 next week.
Greece is better in terms of temperatures thanks to north winds that reach force 6 on the Beaufort scale, but precisely these strong gusts are helping to spread several fires in the capital region of Attica and on the island of Crete, where it has been necessary Preventively evacuate several districts such as the town of Orne.
(Also: Macron warns about the looming energy crisis in Europe)
*With information from AFP and EFE
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