CNN
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Extreme high temperatures are expected to continue in parts of southern Europe this week, as the continent braces for a second severe heat wave, putting people’s health at risk and setting the stage for wildfires. .
Last week’s “Cerberus” heat wave made way for another one, named by Italian weather forecasters as “Charon” – the ferryman of Greek mythology who takes souls to the underworld.
Italy, Spain and Greece have been dealing with unrelenting heat for days, but the European Space Agency warns that the heat wave is just beginning. In Italy, which has been hit particularly hard, temperatures in many cities are expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Reading, compared the effect to that of a giant oven over the Mediterranean.
“The bubble of warm air rising over southern Europe is turning Italy and surrounding countries into a giant pizza oven,” he said in a statement on Monday.
“The warm air pushing in from Africa is staying put today, with a high pressure situation which means the heat in the warm ocean, land and air continues to build,” Cloke explained.
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A street vendor walks with a hat in front of the Colosseum in Rome, Monday, July 17, 2023.
Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
A boy cools off at the Piazza del Popolo fountain in Rome on July 17, 2023.
The extreme heat is being felt around the world, with the head of the World Health Organization on Monday urging world leaders to “act now” on the climate crisis.
“In many parts of the world, today is predicted to be the hottest day on record,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet on Monday. “The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It is happening. I urge world leaders to ACT now,” he also said.
The high temperature hit 52.2 degrees Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) on Sunday in northwest China. Meanwhile in the US, Death Valley in California reached nearly 52 degrees Celsius (125.6) on Sunday.
As the human-caused climate crisis intensifies, scientists are clear that extreme weather events such as heat waves will become more frequent and more severe.
Global temperatures have already risen 1.2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels due to humans burning planet-heating fossil fuels.
03:28 – Source: CNN
The graphic shows all the changes in global temperature since 1850
“This is just the beginning,” said Simon Lewis, the chair of global change science at University College London.
“Current global policies are hitting 2.7 degrees (Celsius) of warming by 2100. That’s truly terrifying,” Lewis said in a statement.
“As scientists agreed last year: There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all. Deep, rapid and sustained cuts in carbon emissions to net zero can stop warming, but humanity will have to adapt to more intense heat waves in the future.” he said.
Last month was the planet’s hottest June on record by a large margin, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which was accompanied by high ocean temperatures and record low Antarctic ice levels.
That unprecedented heat continued into this month. The first week of July was the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization, putting the planet in what Christopher Hewitt, WMO climate services director, described as “uncharted territory.”
Extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather events.
03:24 – Source: CNN
This is what happens to your body when the temperature rises
Chris Hilson, the director of the University of Reading’s Center for Climate and Justice, says that “news reports from tourist hotspots such as the Acropolis and Rome make this extreme weather event seem like an inconvenience to summer vacation.”
However, he said, the reality is that “these heatwaves often cause many premature deaths, especially among the elderly.”
“It’s a matter of climate justice or fairness because climate damages like extreme heat are not felt equally,” said Hilson, and “we need to make sure we continue to cut polluting carbon emissions dioxide to prevent these events from becoming more frequent. ; but the authorities must also put in place adaptation measures with a view to this disproportionately felt damage.”
These measures include “cool zones or drop-in centers with transportation to get there, more trees in relevant residential neighborhoods, and appropriate (and preferably renewable-powered) air conditioning in care homes, Hilson added.
As a high-pressure anticyclone pushes in from North Africa, temperatures in Europe are expected to approach, or even break, the continent’s record of 48.8 degrees Celsius (118.4 degrees Fahrenheit) set for 2021, according to the ESA. .
The peak of heat in Italy will be between Monday and Wednesday, according to Italian weather news service Meteo.it, with temperatures expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country. Temperatures will remain high at night which means little respite from the heat.
Italian authorities advise people to drink plenty of water, eat lighter meals and avoid direct sunlight between 11 am and 6 pm
In Greece, where temperatures rose above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), the authorities were forced to close the Acropolis in Athens, from noon to 5 local time on Friday and again over the weekend.
In Spain, the temperature in the cities of Seville, Cordoba and Granada reached 40 degrees Celsius. Even the normally cooler region of Navarra in the north of the country can experience 40 degrees Celsius.
The warmth of the soil also helps with fires.
Wildfires on the island of La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands, which started on Saturday morning, have burned 4,650 hectares (11,490 acres), destroyed 20 homes and forced the emergency evacuation of thousands of people, according to Reuters reports.
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A forest fire in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain on July 16, 2023.
EIRIF Handout/Reuters
Smoke billows from the mountain of the burning Tijarafe fire, on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain July 16, 2023.
Fires also broke out in Tenerife, another of the Canary Islands, forcing about 50 people to evacuate and burning about 60 hectares (123 acres).
In Greece, more than 500 firefighters are trying to control four wildfires.
In the area of Loutraki – a popular town on the Peloponnese coast, southwest of Athens – 1,200 children were evacuated from a summer camp amid a wildfire there, local mayor Giorgos Gkionis told the Greek media. A nursing home was also evacuated.
Meanwhile, two large forest fires are raging in the southeast and northwest of Athens. The largest of the two started after noon local time in the area of Kouvaras – southeast of Athens – and extended 7 miles in the first two hours. Residents of Kouvaras as well as the nearby coastal resorts of Saronida, Anavyssos and Lagonisi have been ordered to evacuate.
The fire also closed the airport on Monday in the city of Catania on the Italian island of Sicily, suspending flights until 2pm local time on Wednesday, according to a post on Twitter from the airport authorities.
Firefighters have brought the fire under control and it is not yet clear if the region’s high temperatures played a role. Catania was one of several cities under a hot weather red alert on Sunday, according to a Reuters report.