This weekend Greece will be hit by a new heat wave. Temperatures are expected to rise to 44°C in Athens and 45°C in Thessaly, in the center of the country.
Greece is about to break temperature records. Meteorologist for public broadcaster ERT Panagiotis Giannopoulos said on Friday July 21 that this weekend was “the hottest in fifty years” while Greece was suffering from a heatwave likely to continue next week.
“endless and intense heat wave”
According to the national weather service EMY, temperatures of 41 °C were measured in Attica in the Athens region on Friday afternoon and temperatures of up to 44 °C in Thessaly in the center of the country. Sunday promises to be the worst day, with temperatures nearing 44C in Athens and 45C in Thessaly.
“Athens will see temperatures in excess of 40C for six to seven days by the end of July, which is exceptionally long even for a European capital accustomed to summer heat,” said Panagiotis Giannopoulos. The weather forecaster for private broadcaster Maga, Yannis Kallianos, described the heatwave as “an endless and intense heatwave”. This episode could last until Thursday 27th and Friday 28th July next year, the meteorologist indicated.
very little green space
The Greek capital is one of the hottest in Europe and suffers from a lack of commitment to the environment, experts say. “There are very few green spaces in Athens that can lower temperatures,” Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development at the National Observatory of Athens, told AFP.
Like other archaeological sites, the Acropolis of Athens, the country’s most visited monument, is closed on Thursday, July 20 from 12:00 p.m. and until 5:30 p.m. The measure applies until Sunday.
According to the Athens Observatory, a temperature record of 44.8 °C was measured in the Greek capital in 2007, while the absolute record in Greece was reached in July 1977 with 48 °C in Elefsina near Athens.