For the third consecutive day, firefighters in Greece have battled three major fire fronts. Authorization has not been given for the wildfires west of Athens, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Strong winds made it difficult to extinguish the fire. The situation is not expected to improve for now, especially as another dry heat wave is expected from Thursday.
In Greece, four firefighters and three helicopters rose to a new fire front near the town of Loutraki, according to the fire department. On the island of Rhodes, three villages and a hotel were evacuated on Wednesday because of a massive forest fire. As the fire department announced, it was the villages of Eleousa, Salakou and Dimilia and a hotel in the immediate vicinity. All places are in the center of the island, where a huge forest fire lasts for days.
Greek meteorologist Theodoros Giannaros of the National Observatory of Athens has warned that the situation with heat, drought and fires in Greece is getting worse. The expert, who specializes in weather and fires, described the fatal phenomenon as “hot – dry – windy”. He remembers the weather conditions of 2021, when tens of thousands of hectares of forest and vegetation burned in Greece, Giannaros told state broadcaster ERT on Wednesday and predicted: “The worst is still ahead of us”.
From Thursday, there will be another heat wave that will reach its peak over the weekend and will cause temperatures of up to 44 degrees in the place. The cessation of the heat wave the following Monday was then accompanied by strong winds, with each spark causing a large fire because the winds fed the embers and flames and also propelled the sparks over long distances, creating new sources of fire.
The heat in Italy is expected to peak this Wednesday (today). So says meteorologist Antonio Sanò, from the private meteorological service ilmeteo.it. According to its current data, not only could it get hotter than 40 degrees or so in the southern parts of the Mediterranean country, but possibly also in central Italian cities such as Florence and Bologna.
The Ministry of Health therefore announced the highest heat alert level for 23 major cities on Wednesday. The southern regions of Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria, as well as the two large Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Sicily are particularly affected by high temperatures on Wednesday. In the interior of the islands, maximum temperatures of 45 to 46 degrees can be measured. But the Italian capital will also heat up again.
High daytime temperatures are extremely strenuous for the elderly, infirm and young children. 28 health centers were opened in Rome, for example, to provide clean water and rooms to refresh. In general, hospitals are under increasing pressure and emergency rooms are filling up. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that about 20% more emergency medical consultations were registered in the country on Tuesday.
According to Sanò, the high pressure area “Caronte”, in the north, should lose strength from Thursday. High temperatures continue in southern Italy. Although a slight drop in temperature is felt in these regions, according to Sanò, this will hardly be noticed due to the already high temperatures.
The third heat wave of the summer in Spain has brought several temperature records to Mallorca. In eight communities and towns on the Mediterranean island, Tuesday was hotter than it has been since records began, according to the national weather service Aemet. The Balearic meteorological service, Balears Meteo, even reported the village of Llubí with 44.9 degrees, the highest temperature ever measured on the island by the authority. These are preliminary measurements that can still be easily corrected.
The country’s highest value in Spain was recorded on Tuesday at 45.4 degrees in Figueres, in the northeast of the country. This is the highest temperature recorded in Catalonia since records began, Aemet emphasized. Meanwhile, the official Spanish record has clearly yet to be reached: it is 47.6 degrees and was set on August 14, 2021 on La Rambla in Andalusia.
As of Wednesday, nine of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities were still on orange or yellow alert. The heat wave should be over by Thursday at the latest. According to Aemet, increasingly intense heat waves are being recorded in Spain. Experts attribute this to man-made climate change. Aemet spokesman Ruben del Campo: “One thing is clear: climate change is increasing extreme weather events.”