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Europe, China, the United States… heat waves are hitting the planet
High temperatures are expected this weekend in several regions of the globe: in Europe, Asia, the United States and even North Africa. These heat waves raise fears of health problems for the populations, but also of repeated fires.
Published on :07/15/2023 – 10:03
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An emergency services volunteer gives water to visitors near the Acropolis hill in Athens on July 14, 2023.
An emergency services volunteer gives water to visitors near the Acropolis hill in Athens on July 14, 2023. © Louiza Vradi, Reuters
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A new illustration of global warming. The heat wave spread across the world on Saturday July 15, from Europe to China via the United States, forcing the authorities to take drastic measures to deal with these heat waves and new fires.
From Saturday, Italy is expected to experience a heat wave, with historic temperature records expected in the coming days. On Sunday, sixteen cities will be on red alert across the country.
In several central cities, from Rome to Bologna, from Florence to Pescara, where the thermometer should reach 36-37°C on Sunday, before the peak expected at the start of the week.
According to the daily Il Messaggero, two amateur footballers aged 48 and 51 died Friday evening, after illness probably due to the heat, during matches in the Naples region (in the south).
The Italian Meteorological Center says it fears “the most intense heat wave of the summer but also one of the most intense of all time”.
Un hombre se refreshes con agua de una fuente Durante uno de los días con las más altas temperaturas, en la tercera ola de calor, en Guadalajara, estado de Jalisco, México, el 12 de junio de 2023.
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A man refreshes himself with a water from a fuente during one of los días con las más altas temperaturas, in the tercera ola de calor, in Guadalajara, estado de Jalisco, México, el 12 de junio de 2023. © afp
In Rome, temperatures could rise to 40°C on Monday, then 42 or 43°C on Tuesday, shattering the previous record of 40.5°C recorded in the capital in August 2007. The north of the peninsula should not be spared with 38°C expected Tuesday in Milan.
Like Italy, many countries in Europe are also facing an extensive heat wave. In Germany, over a large part of the country, temperatures could rise to 38°C, according to a press release from the German meteorological service published on Saturday. Severe thunderstorms are also expected in the West and South-West with a risk of gusts of up to 110 km / h.
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Closure of the Acropolis of Athens
Greece is also suffering from a heat wave which forces the local authorities, for the second day in a row, to close the Acropolis of Athens during the hottest hours. The site, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , and taken over by tourists, will thus remain closed between 11:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. GMT) and 5:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. GMT), announced the Ministry of Culture.
If temperatures of 40 to 41 ° C are expected in Athens, “the real temperature felt (…) by the body is considerably higher” at the top of the Acropolis, justified Friday the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni.
Visitors have been victims of discomfort in recent days, especially at the top of the Acropolis, where they had come to admire the Parthenon. The Red Cross deployed on Thursday at the foot of the Acropolis to distribute “daily at least 30,000 50 cl bottles of water” and come to the aid of tourists. Several parks and green spaces in Athens will also remain closed this Saturday.
North Africa is also affected . In Morocco , which has been experiencing a series of heat waves since the start of the summer, a red heat alert has been issued for several provinces.
In Asia, several provinces in southern and southeast China will experience high temperatures over the weekend, reaching 35-40C, according to the Central Meteorological Observatory. In parts of the northwest, some cities could even exceed 40°C.
In Japan , authorities have urged people to be cautious as temperatures are also expected to reach 39°C in the east of the country, according to the local forecaster.
On the other side of the globe, the southern United States is roasting under a heat wave: tens of millions of Americans, from California to Texas, experienced dangerously high temperatures on Friday, which are expected to peak in weekend course. Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, recorded its fifteenth straight day above 43°C on Friday, according to the US Weather Services (NWS).
Risk of repeated fires
In the Californian desert of Death Valley, American firefighters were fighting very violent fires on Friday.
For climatologist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, the mercury there could equal or even exceed the highest air temperature ever reliably measured on Earth, or 54.4°C recorded at the same place in 2020 and 2021, according to several experts.
Smoke from fires in Canada, where more than 500 fires are out of control, led to several episodes of heavy air pollution over the northeastern United States in June.
In Greece, where violent forest fires had raged during the summer of 2021 due to an exceptional heat wave, the authorities have warned of the high risk of fire, especially in regions where strong winds are expected to blow.
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In Italy, Civil Protection issued fire alert bulletins over much of Sardinia from Sunday, as well as for eastern Sicily, between Messina and Catania.
Globally, the month of June was the hottest ever measured, according to the European Copernicus and American NASA and NOAA agencies. Then, the first full week of July was in turn the hottest on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing the strength, duration and rate of repetition of heat waves, experts say.
Heat is one of the deadliest weather events, the WMO said. Last summer in Europe alone, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths, according to a recent study.
With AFP
