Heat waves hitting various 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 is forcing the authorities to take drastic measures to deal with heat waves, which are, according to experts, another example of climate change.
According to the Italian Air Force, the body responsible for weather forecasts in Italy, as of this Saturday the south of the country should register temperatures slightly above 38° Celsius in Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria and Apulia, “with peaks of 40° or further”.
On Sunday Rome is expected to reach 43º on the thermometers, but it will be in Sardinia where the high temperatures are felt the most, which are expected to reach 48º.
The weekend will be “very hot” in many cities in the center and south of the country, and “temperatures could reach 40° or more, especially on Sunday,” the Italian Air Force warned.
“The Mediterranean basin and central and southern Italy are covered by a blanket of very hot air. Unfortunately, this is nothing new: climate change is making these types of situations 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 on 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 suffers a heat wave that forced local authorities to close the Acropolis of Athens on Friday during the hottest hours.
The closure of visits to the monument, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited in Greece, must be extended until today “to protect workers” and “visitors”, explained the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni.
While temperatures of 40C to 41C are expected in Athens, “the actual temperature felt […] by the body is considerably higher” at the top of the Acropolis, according to the minister.
On Thursday, the Red Cross was stationed at the foot of the Acropolis to distribute “at least 30,000 50-cc bottles of water a day” to help tourists who might suffer from heat stroke or fainting.
The heat is also intensely affecting the southern shore of the Mediterranean, especially hitting Morocco, which has suffered a series of heat waves since the beginning of summer, for which the authorities have issued a red alert for several provinces this Friday.
In Asia, some regions of China, including the capital Beijing, are also being affected by a severe heat wave, as well as some areas in eastern Japan, which are also expected to reach 38-39°C on Sunday and the Monday, according to local forecasters.
Across the globe, the southern United States is gripped by a searing heat wave, with tens of millions of Americans from California to Texas dealing with dangerously high temperatures on Friday, which are also expected to peak during the weekend.
Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, registered Friday the 15th consecutive day with more than 43 degrees, according to the US Weather Service (NWS).
Globally, June was the warmest month on record, according to the European agency Copernicus and the US agencies NASA and NOAA, and the first week of July was also the hottest on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). ), which considers heat to be one of the deadliest weather events.
Last summer, in Europe alone, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths, according to a recent study.
In addition to health problems, the heat wave is also causing fear of fires, and in Greece, local authorities have warned of a high risk of fires in regions where strong winds are expected. Greece was, in the summer of 2021, the victim of violent forest fires due to an exceptional heat wave.
In North America, the summer has already been marked by a series of weather catastrophes. Smoke from wildfires in Canada, where more than 500 fires are raging out of control, caused several episodes of heavy air pollution in the northeastern United States in June.
Over the past week, catastrophic flooding has also affected the northeastern US state of Vermont, as well as other parts of the world.
Scientists point out that global warming may contribute to more frequent and intense precipitation in the face of increased water vapor in the atmosphere.
Source: TSF
