According to the European Union’s Copernicus Observatory, the climate phenomenon reaches several countries in the northern coast of the Mediterranean and already causes temperature records in the European summer
Paris and 15 other regions of This Tuesday (1st) are on a red alert on a wave of heat that broke temperature records in Spain and for a month of June and which provided fires in Italy and Türkiye. The first large wave of summer Boreal summer affected several countries on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which also recorded its temperature record for a month of June, according to the Copenicus Observatory of the European Union. In France, the national weather agency declared the maximum alert level in Paris and 15 other departments for temperatures that could reach 41 ° C in some areas.
It is something “never seen” in the country, said the minister of ecological transition, agnès Pannier-Runacher. Authorities will impose important restrictions on the circulation of polluting vehicles in the Île-de-France region, where the capital is located, and will also close access to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The government also provides for the total or partial closure of almost 1,350 schools on Tuesday due to the heat, almost double the number of establishments that had to do the same on Monday.
Although in slight decrease over the weekend, the Spanish Agency of Meteorology (Aemet) indicated that thermometers can follow above 40 ° C in the center and south of the country, and also warned of the risk of “heavy rains and storms […] accompanied by hail. ”On Saturday, the town of El Granado, in the South, reached 46 ° C, a record for a month of June in Spain, surpassing the 45.2 ° C reported in 1965 in Seville, also in the region of Andalusia. A similar situation took place in neighboring Portugal, where the thermometer reached 46.6 ° C, about 100 km from Lisbon. He indicated that he is a national record for a month of June.
Fires
These increasingly frequent and intense heat waves for climate change according to experts, also often provide fires in the Mediterranean basin. In Turkey, rescue teams evacuated more than 50,000 people from various fires, most of them in the western province of Smyrna, hit by winds of up to 120 km/h that hinder containment work. In Portugal, the authorities declared controlled a fire near Castelo Branco, in the center of the country, but warned that the risk remains maximum in most forest areas.
Firefighters also fought the flames in various regions of Italy, where the press reported the death of a 77 -year -old woman by smoke inhalation in Potenza, south, on Sunday. A 70 -year -old man also died in the Piemonte (North) region, but in this case dragged by a stream of water and mud after an intense flood, the authorities said. Images published in the local press showed people running towards the sea at a Bay Domizia beach hotel, near Naples, in the face of the approach of the flames that devoured the region’s pine forests.
“I never tried something like this. We were surrounded by flames of at least 30 meters high,” published on Facebook the mayor of the locality near Cellole, Guido di Leone. In Italy, the forecast is that the heat wave will expand until the end of the week or even beyond, told AFP Antonio Spano, founder of the specialized site Ilmeteo.it. The Ministry of Health decreed the red alert to 18 cities across the country, including Rome, Milan, Florence and Verona.
‘Urban Heat Island’
In cities, increased temperatures are higher due to the “urban heat island effect,” explained Emanuela Piervitali, a researcher at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA). Given this situation, municipal authorities seek strategies to relieve the situation. The French city of Marseille opened the public pools free of charge and Venice offered the elderly population guided tours of museums, equipped with air conditioning.
In Madrid, Agathe Lacombe, a French tourist, acknowledged that the heat wave made it “a little difficult” the trip to her and her family. “You have to adapt all the planning of the day, do everything in the morning and come home in the hottest hours,” she told AFP. Spanish unions asked companies “preventive measures” to protect their employees after the weekend was killed by the death of two workers, possibly for the heat.
And in France and Italy the debate of conditions in prisons arose. The heat “exacerbates existing frustrations and tensions,” said Wilfried Fathk, national secretary of the French Penitentiary Workers Union. The heat wave also affects countries of the Dona Balkan peninsula such as Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, and also the United Kingdom, with temperatures of up to 34 ° C in London and southeastern England. This heat coincides with the beginning of the important Wimbledon tennis tournament, where the BBC reported a temperature of 31.4 ° C on the second, a record for an inaugural journey of this Grand Slam.
*With information from AFP
