- Heat wave in the northern hemisphere will intensify in the coming days
- The US hopes that climate cooperation with China could redefine relations
- WMO warns of increased risk of death from heat waves
ROME, July 18 (Portal) – Large parts of southern and eastern Europe were placed on red heat alert on Tuesday and the World Meteorological Organization warned of an increased risk of death as extreme weather conditions swept the continent, Asia and the United States.
The Mediterranean island of Sardinia could see highs of more than 47 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) and forecasters said temperatures could reach 40 degrees in several Italian cities, including 42-43 degrees in the Lazio region, which includes Rome.
With sweltering temperatures hitting Europe during the summer tourist peak season, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the heatwave was likely to intensify in the northern hemisphere. In Europe alone, an estimated 61,000 people died in heat waves last year.
The EU’s Emergency Coordination Center has issued red alerts for high temperatures for most of Italy, northeastern Spain, Croatia, Serbia, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
Heatwaves this summer, with temperatures soaring to 53 degrees in California’s Death Valley and above 52 degrees in northwest China, have coincided with wildfires from Greece to the Swiss Alps and deadly floods in India and South Korea.
They have brought new urgency to talks this week between the United States and China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters.
US climate chief John Kerry met Chinese officials in Beijing and expressed hope that climate cooperation could redefine troubled relations between the two powers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed Beijing’s commitment to carbon neutrality and that a carbon peak is certain but will not be influenced by others.
“Temperatures in North America, Asia and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40C on several days this week as the heatwave intensifies,” the WMO said.
Overnight low temperatures are also expected to make new highs, the WMO said, posing a risk of increased heart attack cases and deaths.
“While most attention is focused on daytime highs, it is night-time temperatures that pose the greatest health risks, particularly for vulnerable populations,” it said.
The heat in Europe could also lead to a lasting change in tourist habits, with more people choosing cooler destinations or traveling in spring or autumn, tourism organizations predicted.
In Spain, politicians have adapted to the sweltering heat in the final stretches of the election campaign ahead of Sunday’s vote by changing the location and times of their rallies or limiting outdoor campaigning to online events.
The hottest summers ever
Scientists have long warned that climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions mainly from burning fossil fuels, will make heat waves more frequent, more severe and more deadly. They say governments must take drastic action to reduce emissions.
According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2022 and 2021 were the hottest summers on the continent on record. Two years ago, the highest recorded temperature in Europe was measured in Sicily at 48.8 °C.
In Italy, tourists have tried to keep their cool by splashing in Rome’s fountains and standing under giant fans set up in front of the Colosseum. Due to the capital’s chronic shortage of taxis, some have had to queue for more than an hour in the heat outside Rome’s main train station.
The Health Ministry issued red weather warnings for 20 of the country’s 27 largest cities on Tuesday, with the number expected to rise to 23 on Wednesday.
“It is not excluded that we will exceed the 47 degree mark and there could be places in Sulcis and Campidano (in southern Sardinia) where we could record an even higher value,” said Carlo Spanu of the Italian weather service Air Force .
“Our historical record (in Sardinia) is 47.7 degrees. Nothing prevents us from surpassing or equaling it,” he said.
The heat has prompted some travelers to go home earlier. Anita Elshoy and her husband returned to Norway a week ahead of schedule from their holiday resort of Vasanello, a village north of Rome.
“(I) had severe pain in my head, legs and (my) fingers were swelling and getting dizzy,” Elshoy said of her heat-related symptoms.
Areas in the northeastern Spanish regions of Catalonia and Aragon, as well as the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, were on alert for temperatures exceeding 40C on Tuesday. The Catalan Weather Service said the mercury temperature at the Boadella reservoir near the village of Darnius had reached 45C, the highest temperature ever recorded in the region.
In many parts of the Mediterranean coast and in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula, the temperature did not fall below 25 °C on Monday evening, the national weather agency AEMET said.
“I was kind of struggling, but I have a ceiling fan and that helped me. I was able to sleep, but it was difficult,” said Mercedes, a 60-year-old secretary in Madrid.
In Greece, authorities near a forest fire in Dervenochoria, north of Athens, urged citizens to close doors and windows as smoke approached.
Giorgos Nikolau, 89, stood in his burned-out house in Ano Lagonissi, which had been his home for 32 years, and described fleeing the fire with only the trunks and shirt he was wearing.
“I don’t have anything else, I don’t even have other shoes. Nothing. I’m done,” he said.
In China, trees fell on vehicles, a whale was washed ashore and a freezer full of ice floated away in floods as Typhoon Talim swept across southern provinces on Tuesday, becoming the first to hit the country this year.
Reporting by Angelo Amante, Emma Farge, Giselda Vagnoni, Crispian Balmer, Angeliki Koutantou, Emma Pinedo Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; writing by Matthias Williams; Edited by Janet Lawrence
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