Temperatures in Spain soar to potential record high of 47.2C
Spain set a new provisional heat record of 47.2C on Saturday, as Southern Europe sweltered under a relentless summer sun.
In Italy, 16 cities are on red alert for health risks and Portugal warned 75% of its regions that they faced a “significantly increased risk” of wildfires.
Data from Spain’s State Meteorological Agency said the potential new record was recorded at Montoro, Cordoba, at 5:10pm.
If confirmed, that would exceed the country’s previous record of 46.9 degrees Celsius (116.42 F), set nearby in July 2017.
The high heat comes only days after Sicily reported a temperature of 48.8C on Wednesday, which is also awaiting verification and would be the highest ever recorded in Europe.
Europe’s current heat record came in 1977 when Athens hit 48.0 Celsius (118.4 F).
In the southern Spanish province of Granada, where the mercury rose to 45.4C, few people ventured outside.
Miriam García, a student, wished she hadn’t braved the heat: “It is very hot, we have to drink water and put on sun cream all the time, stopping to have a drink at a bar every so often,” she said. “It would be better to be at home than in the street, it’s so hot!”
Dominic Royé, a climate scientist at the University of Santiago de Compostela, said the hot air from the Sahara Desert that has brought days of heat and fueled hundreds of wildfires across Mediterranean nations shows no signs of ending anytime soon.
“The heat wave we are experiencing now is very extreme and a lot of people are saying that it’s normal, as we are in summer. But it’s not, not this hot,” Royé said.
Wildfires have ripped through Europe in recent weeks - including Greece, where residents in one village returned to devastated homes
The World Meteorological Organization said temperatures being recorded in the Mediterranean region go well beyond the typical hot, dry August weather.
The group warned the temperatures are "extreme" and "what we might expect from climate change".
With night-time temperatures forecast to exceed 25C in much of Spain, Royé worried about residents who cannot afford air conditioning and other vulnerable people, like the homeless or outdoor workers.
Elsewhere on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal’s government placed 14 of the country’s 18 districts on a state of alert through to Monday night due to the “significantly increased risk” of wildfires.
Temperatures have been forecast to surpass 40C - that would still fall short of Portugal’s highest ever recorded temperature of 47.3C in the inland Alentejo region in 2003.
Temperatures in Italy rose as high as 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 F) in Rome, Florence and Bologna, all places that the Health Ministry put on red alert.
The heat wave has aggravated wildfires that have consumed forests in southern Italy, Greece, Turkey and North Africa.
Climate scientists say there is little doubt that climate change is driving extreme events like the heat waves, wildfires, and flooding seen across Europe in recent weeks.