Record temperatures are expected around the world on Saturday, from Europe to China to the United States, forcing authorities to take significant action to deal with these heat waves and new fires, a new example of global warming.
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From Saturday, Italy is expected to experience a heatwave from north to south, with historic temperature records expected in the coming days. On Sunday, 16 cities across the country are on red alert.
In several central cities, from Rome to Bologna, from Florence to Pescara, thermometers should hit 36/37°C on Sunday before hitting the dreaded peak early next week.
According to the daily Il Messaggero, two amateur footballers, aged 48 and 51, died on Friday night during matches in the Naples region (south) after an illness likely caused by the heat.
The Italian Meteorological Center fears “the most intense heat wave of the summer, but also one of the most intense on record”.
In Rome, the temperature could rise to 40°C on Monday and 42 or 43°C on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 40.5°C set in the capital in August 2007.
The north of the peninsula should not be spared from the 38°C expected in Milan on Tuesday.
Like Italy, many countries in Europe are also facing an extended heatwave.
In Germany, temperatures could rise to up to 38 degrees in large parts of the country, according to a press release by the German weather service published on Saturday. Heavy thunderstorms with a risk of gusts of up to 110 km/h are also expected in the west and south-west.
Acropolis closed
Greece is also suffering from a heat wave that has forced local authorities to close Athens’ Acropolis during the hottest hours for the second day in a row.
Crowded with tourists, the UNESCO World Heritage Site will remain closed between 11:30 a.m. local time (08:30 GMT) and 17:30 p.m. local time (14:30 GMT), the culture ministry said.
AFP
While temperatures of 40°C to 41°C are expected in Athens, “the true temperature can be felt.” […] “Through the body, it is considerably higher,” said Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni on Friday at the top of the Acropolis.
In recent days, visitors have been restless, especially at the top of the Acropolis, where they want to admire the Parthenon.
The Red Cross was stationed at the foot of the Acropolis from Thursday to distribute “at least 30,000 bottles of 50 cl water a day” and to help tourists.
Several parks and green spaces in Athens will remain closed this Saturday.
North Africa is also affected. A red heat warning has been issued for several provinces in Morocco, which has been experiencing a series of heat waves since the start of the summer.
In Asia, according to the Central Meteorological Observatory, there will be high temperatures of 35 to 40 °C in several provinces in southern and southeastern China over the weekend. In parts of the North West, temperatures could even exceed 40°C in some cities.
In Japan, authorities have urged caution as temperatures in the east of the country are expected to reach 39C, according to the local meteorologist.
Getty Images via AFP
On the other side of the world, the southern U.S. is reddening under a heatwave: tens of millions of Americans, from California to Texas, experienced dangerously high temperatures on Friday that are expected to peak over the weekend.
According to the US Weather Service, Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, recorded over 43 degrees on Friday for the 15th straight day.
Wildfires in California
In the Californian desert of Death Valley, American firefighters fought very violent fires on Friday.
According to climatologist Daniel Swain of the University of California at Los Angeles, the mercury there could reach or even exceed the highest air temperature ever reliably measured on earth of 54.4 °C, which was recorded at the same place in the years 2020 and 2020, according to several experts was measured in 2021.
Smoke from fires in Canada, where more than 500 fires are spiraling out of control, had already sparked several episodes of severe air pollution in the northeastern United States in June.
In Greece, where fierce forest fires raged in the summer of 2021 due to an extraordinary heat wave, the authorities warned of a high fire risk, especially in regions where strong winds are expected.
AFP
In Italy, civil defense issued fire alarms for large parts of Sardinia and for eastern Sicily between Messina and Catania from Sunday.
According to the European Copernicus and American NASA and NOAA authorities, June was the hottest month on record anywhere in the world. Then the first full week of July was the hottest on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Greenhouse gas emissions increase the strength, duration and frequency of heat waves, experts say.
According to the WMO, heat is one of the deadliest weather events. According to a recent study, the high temperatures last summer caused more than 60,000 deaths in Europe alone.