This Sunday a family plays in a fountain in a park in Madrid. The heat continues to afflict much of Spain and a red alert has been issued for 19 Italian cities. Photo: EFE
The heat wave that affects an important part of Europe does not give up. Two weeks ago in Spain the average was 40 ° and per 45 ° is expected this Sunday. In Italy the extreme heat causes the worst drought of the last 70 years and for this Sunday the red alert was issued in 19 cities. There are also other regions of Europe that are taking action due to the heat wave hitting the region.
Since July 9, Spain has been experiencing very high temperatures, despite briefly dropping below 40 degrees in the last few days. According to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), high temperatures and low rainfall since the beginning of the year have taken the risk of fires across the country to “extreme”.
Aemet’s forecasts indicate that almost the entire country will have highs above 36 degrees, except in the northwest. However, the focus of attention will be located in the Córdoba area, a Andalusia (south)where about 45 ° is expected.
The intense heat caused a forest fire that started Thursday in Tenerife and has already destroyed more than 2,100 hectares. Photo: EFE
In Tenerife, in the archipelago of the Canary Islands, this Saturday the fire destroyed 2,156 hectares and forced the evacuation of 600 people. With the current surge, Spain has experienced exceptionally high temperatures five times in the past eleven months.
Since the beginning of 2022, more than 200,000 hectares have been burned in Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS, in English), which makes it the most affected country on the continent.
In Italy, red alert
Italy is another of the countries hit by the strong heat wave and this Sunday there are already 19 cities on red alert, the maximum level of emergency, a situation that will continue in the coming days.
Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Campobasso, Florence, Frosinone, Genoa, Latina, Milan, Perugia, Rieti, Rome, Turin, Trieste, Verona, Viterbo, Civitavecchia, Pescara and Venice will experience peaks up to 40 degrees and lows above 25, according to the latest bulletin of the Ministry of Health.
The poster indicates the temperature in Milan, one of the 19 Italian cities that have “red alert” for this Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Meanwhile, the orange alert continues for seven locations in the south of the country: Ancona, Cagliari, Catania, Messina, Naples, Palermo and Reggio Calabria, where the heat is affecting the air mass of subtropical origin less than in the north and in the center of the country, stationed between the Mediterranean and southern Europe.
The weather forecasts show an insistence of intense heat until the end of July, but a moderate retreat of the anticyclonic structure in the next few hours will favor the return of some thunderstorms locally accompanied by hail and which could be very violent, the Italian meteorologist warned this Sunday Stefano Rossi of the ilMeteo portal.
According to estimates, this phenomenon can cause glaciers to melt more rapidly and cause landslides such as the one that occurred earlier this month on the Marmolada glacier where 11 people died.
With information from EFE
Source: Clarin
