A record weekend, a sign if there were any more that global warming is already on its way. Unprecedented temperatures are expected this weekend across the world, from Europe to China via the US, forcing authorities to take drastic measures to deal with these heat waves.
In Italy, the thermometer flies away. The Ministry of Health on Friday issued a red warning message, valid throughout the weekend, for several central cities, from Rome to Bologna, from Florence to Pescara, where temperatures are expected to reach 36/37°C from Sunday (39°C is felt) , before the expected peak at the start of the week.
In Rome, temperatures could rise to 40°C on Monday, then 42 or 43°C on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 40.5°C recorded in the capital in August 2007. The north of the peninsula is not to be spared with 38 ° C is expected on Tuesday in Milan.
“The Mediterranean basin and central and southern Italy are covered by a blanket of very warm air. Unfortunately, this is nothing new: the current climate change makes this type of situation much more frequent and much more intense compared to the past, including recent ones.”says Claudio Cassardo, meteorologist and professor at the University of Turin, quoted by the daily newspaper Il Messaggero on Friday.
Greece is suffocating
Spain, eastern France, Germany and Poland are also facing a major heat wave. In the Mediterranean again, Greece is also suffering from a heat wave, which on Friday forced the local authorities to close the Acropolis of Athens during the hottest hours, from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
This closure of the ancient site, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited in Greece, will be renewed this Saturday “for the protection of workers” And “visitor”, explained the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni. If temperatures of 40°C to 41°C are expected in Athens, “the real temperature was felt […] of the body is significantly higher” on top of the Acropolis according to the minister.
Visitors have been victims of discomfort in recent days, especially at the top of the site where they came 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 who may be victims of sunstroke or fainting.
Asia, Africa and the Americas also overheated
North Africa is also affected. In Morocco, which has experienced a series of heat waves since the beginning of the summer, a heat wave red alert has been issued for several provinces. Some regions of China, including the capital Beijing, are also suffering from a strong heat wave. Parts of eastern Japan are also expected to reach 38-39C on Sunday and Monday, according to the local forecaster.
On the other side of the globe, the southern United States is burning under a heat wave: tens of millions of Americans from California to Texas experienced dangerously high temperatures on Friday, which are expected to peak during the weekend. Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, recorded its 15th consecutive day above 43 degrees on Friday, according to the US Weather Services (NWS).
In the Californian desert of Death Valley, American firefighters fought very violent fires on Friday. For climatologist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, the mercury there could match or even exceed the highest air temperature ever reliably measured on Earth, or 54.4°C recorded at the same location in 2020 and 2021, according to several experts.
The hottest June in history
Globally, June was the warmest month on record, according to the European Copernicus and US NASA and NOAA agencies. Then the first full week of July was the warmest ever, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
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.
In addition to health concerns, this heat wave also raises fears of repeated fires. The Greek authorities have thus warned of the high risk of fire, especially in regions where strong winds are expected to blow. Greece suffered severe forest fires during the summer of 2021 due to an unusual heat wave.
In North America, the summer has already been marked by a number of weather disasters. Smoke from the fires in Canada, where more than 500 fires are out of control, led to several episodes of severe air pollution in the northeastern United States in June.
Catastrophic flooding also hit the US state of Vermont (northeast) this week. Scientists recalled that global warming can contribute to more frequent and heavier rains by increasing water vapor in the atmosphere.
