Heat wave hits Portugal, Spain, France and the UK

People relax in a swimming pool during a heat wave in Madrid, Spain. The hot air mass has raised temperatures above 40°C in most of the Iberian Peninsula with signs close to 44°C in Spanish territory. | Oscar del Pozo/AFP/Meteorology

After Spain and Portugal, France and the United Kingdom are preparing for the arrival of an exceptional heat wave, the second in just one month with temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius. According to scientists, there is a direct relationship between heat waves and climate change, as greenhouse gas emissions increase in intensity, duration, and frequency.

The heat wave that has settled in western Europe “mainly affects Spain and Portugal, but is expected to intensify and spread,” WMO spokeswoman Claire Nullis said in Geneva. The spokeswoman warned, a week after part of the Italian Marmolada glacier broke off, killing 11 people, these extreme temperatures are producing “droughts” and affecting “alpine glaciers.”

The heat wave will continue in France until at least the beginning of next week. In the southwest of the country, temperatures are expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius this Wednesday. In France, two fires burned 1,000 hectares of forest on Tuesday in the Bordeaux region of southwestern France. The largest of them destroyed 800 hectares of pine trees near Landeras, about 40 kilometers from Bordeaux.

The second fire broke out near the tourist town of Dona de Pilate in the Bay of Arcachon. The fires, which devoured about 180 hectares of old pine trees, forced at least 6,000 people from the camp to retreat as a precaution. Firefighters said the flames were still active on Wednesday. Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne called on her government to mobilize against the “rapid impact” of heat “on the health of the population, particularly the most vulnerable”.

In the UK, the Met Office has issued an orange alert for a “severe heat wave” from Sunday, with temperatures exceeding 35C. The water company urged the British to spare every last drop, which includes boiling just enough for a cup of tea.

With a thermometer above 40°C, Spain and Portugal still suffer from the stifling heat. Still remembrance of the 2017 fires that left nearly 100 people dead, the outbreaks that devastated central Portugal over the weekend returned Tuesday afternoon, causing the evacuation of several cities and mobilizing more than 1,000 firefighters to battle the fires. Fire.

According to images broadcast by local television, firefighters and residents tried to contain the progress of the blazes that threatened several locations in the municipalities of Leiria, Pombal, Orem and Alvaisere. In Spain, almost every country was on alert on Wednesday due to temperature extremes of 44 degrees Celsius.

Children cool off with water from a spring in temperatures above 30°C in Nantes, western France, during the second extreme heat event this summer in Western Europe | LOIC VENANCE / AFP / METSUL METEOROLOGY

Spain is the country that is punished with the most extreme temperatures as weather stations report a maximum approaching 44°C| JORGE GUERRERO / AFP / METSUL METEOROLOGY

He warned that the heat wave, which began last weekend and will last until at least Sunday, will cause exceptionally high temperatures across the country on Wednesday, with regions such as Andalusia (south), Extremadura (southwest) and Galicia (northwest) in Red alert. Spanish Meteorological Agency Aemet.

With the exception of the Atlantic Canary Islands archipelago, all other Spanish regions have been placed under multi-level alerts due to the heat. A maximum temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius was recorded yesterday in the city of Mérida in Extremadura, near Portugal. On Wednesday, the thermometers should rise a bit more, with a 44°C forecast in Badajoz (Extremadura), or Córdoba (Andalusia). To begin with, the absolute record in Spain of 47.4 ° C, which was set in August 2021 in Montoro, near Cordoba, will not be broken.