A heat wave that pushed mercury to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in southwestern Europe has triggered “red vigilance” alerts in France, while in Spain, which is battling large fires, the fire has already devastated several thousand acres of forest. In northern Italy, drought could wipe out more than half of the harvest.
This intense heat wave, too early for the season, should continue even until Sunday in southwestern Europe, according to Météo-France forecasts.
More than 18 million French people are affected by this heat wave that emits temperatures in excess of 40 ° Celsius during the day and hovering around 30 ° Celsius at night.
Meteorologists expect many heat records to be shattered in this part of Europe over the weekend.
To cope with the intense heat that could last for several more days, authorities have declared an alert level red vigilance in a dozen departments of the country.
This is the earliest heat wave recorded in France since 1947underlined Matthieu Sorel, climatologist at Météo-France in an interview with AFP.
According to him, it is clear that a markers of climate change.
This is the fourth time French authorities have had to activate these emergency measures intended to protect the population from extreme heat since the historic heat wave in 2003, which killed more than 15,000 people. in the country.
Forest fires in Spain
This spring’s heat wave does not leave any rest for the Spaniards, who are battling several forest fires due to the drought caused by the extraordinary heat level, which reached peaks of 43 ° Celsius in places, in recent days in the country.
The biggest fire is raging in the Sierra de la Culebra, in the northwest of the country, where 5,000 to 7,000 hectares of forest are already smoldering in smoke, the Castile and Leon region announced on Friday.
In the northeast, Catalonia must also fight several fires, the largest of which are raging near Baldomar, in the province of Lleida, where the fire has destroyed more than 940 hectares of forest, according to the Catalan regional government.
This heat wave, which has been raging for almost a week in southwestern Europe, is also causing severe drought in northern Italy, specifically in Lombardy.
Crops under threat in Italy
The regions of northern Italy are in danger of losing up to half of their agricultural production due to the drought, while the level of lakes and rivers is worrying the country, warned on Friday the Italian confederation of farmers.
The Po, which is the longest river in the country and one of the main sources of fresh water, is currently at its lowest level in 70 years – with areas completely dry – and it is only June, stressed for part of it is the Italian federation. public service companies Utilitalia.
The total damage (should) has exceeded one billion euros (C $ 1.37 billion)the Confederation of Farmers (CIA) said in a press release, explaining that water shortages threaten the production of corn and soybeans, whose supply has been partially compromised by the war in Ukraine.
Faced with the possibility of losing half if not all of the crops, the CIA is asking the Italian government to implement a emergency irrigation to save crops and the construction of infrastructure to collect and store rainwater.
The governors of Piedmont and Lombardy, where part of agricultural production depends on Po, said they would ask the government to declare a state of natural disaster due to the drought.
For scientists, this intense and early heat and drought is a direct result of global climate change.
It’s time to act: every action matterswarned on Friday the administrative secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Ibrahim Thiaw, at a conference in Madrid on the occasion of world day to combat drought.
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
