The heat waves hitting different parts of the world will intensify this Saturday and are expected to reach record temperatures in Europe, China and the United States, according to climate experts.
The phenomenon forces the authorities to take drastic measures against heat waves, according to experts, yet another illustration of climate change.
According to the Italian Air Force, the body responsible for weather forecasts in Italy, the south of the country should record temperatures slightly above 38° Celsius in Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria and Apulia from next Saturday, “with peaks of 40° or more” .
On Sunday, Rome is expected to reach 43º on the thermometers, but it will be in Sardinia that the high temperatures will be most felt, expected to reach 48º.
The weekend will be “very hot” in many cities in the center and south of the country and “certainly on Sunday the temperature could rise to 40°C or more”, the Italian Air Force warned.
“The Mediterranean basin and central and southern Italy are covered with a blanket of very hot air. Unfortunately, this is nothing new: due to climate change, these types of situations are much more frequent and much more intense than in the past, including the recent past ” , said Claudio Cassardo, a meteorologist and professor at the University of Turin, quoted Friday by the daily Il Messaggero.
Spain, eastern France, Germany and Poland are also experiencing a widespread heat wave.
Still in Europe, north of the Mediterranean, Greece is suffering from a heat wave that forced local authorities to close the Acropolis of Athens on Friday during the hours of the greatest heat.
The closure of visits to the monument, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited in Greece, should be extended until today “to protect workers” and “visitors”, Greek Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni explained. , out.
While temperatures of 40°C to 41°C are expected in Athens, “the actual temperature felt […] by the body is significantly higher” at the top of the Acropolis, said the minister.
On Thursday, the Red Cross was stationed at the foot of the Acropolis to hand out “at least 30,000 50-centilitre bottles of water a day” to help tourists who might suffer from heat stroke or fainting.
The heat is also having a major impact on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, particularly Morocco, which has been experiencing a series of heat waves since the start of summer, with authorities issuing a red alert for several provinces on Friday.
In Asia, some regions of China, including the capital Beijing, are also being hit by a severe heat wave, as are some areas of eastern Japan, which are also expected to reach 38-39°C on Sunday and Monday, according to local meteorologists.
Across the world, the southern United States is gripped by a blistering heat wave, with tens of millions of Americans from California to Texas struggling with dangerously high temperatures on Friday, which are also expected to spike over the weekend.
Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, recorded its 15th consecutive day with more than 43 degrees on Friday, according to the U.S. Weather Service (NWS).
June was the hottest month on record globally, according to the European agency Copernicus and the US agencies NASA and NOAA, and the first week of July was also the warmest on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization (OMM), which considers heat as one of the deadliest meteorological phenomena.
In Europe alone, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths last summer, according to a recent study.
In addition to health problems, the heat wave is also raising fears of fires and in Greece, local authorities have warned of the high risk of fires in regions where strong winds are expected. Greece fell victim to intense forest fires in the summer of 2021 due to an exceptional heat wave.
In North America, summer is already marked by a series of meteorological catastrophes. Smoke from wildfires in Canada, where more than 500 blazes are out of control, caused several episodes of heavy air pollution in the northeastern United States in June.
Catastrophic flooding has also hit the state of Vermont, in the northeastern United States, and other parts of the world over the past week.
Scientists point out that global warming may contribute to more frequent and intense precipitation in light of increased water vapor in the atmosphere.
Source: DN
