A cyclist pours water over his head as he cycles along the beach side promenade in Messina, on the island of Sicily, during a heat wave on July 16.GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP/Getty Images
Italian health officials intensified heat warnings Monday as southern Europe began a brutally hot week with temperatures expected to top 40 degrees Celsius on a continent already sizzling under the sun and overburdened by tourists.
Countries with borders on the Mediterranean Sea weren’t alone in suffering. Authorities in North Macedonia extended a heat alert for the next 10 days with predicted temperatures topping 43 C, while Kosovo also issued heat warnings.
“Never in my life have I experienced heat like this before in Pristina,” Artan Kelani, a 22-year-old student, said in Kosovo’s capital, where it reached 34.4 C Monday and was expected to get hotter starting Wednesday.
Fierce heat wave sweeps across Europe
A heat wave is expected to bring extreme conditions across
large swathes of southern Europe in the next few days
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FORECAST, July 16 (°C)
0°C
10
20
30
40
50
Italy: Record European temperature of
48.8°C registered near Syracuse ,Sicily,
in Aug. 2021, could be exceeded
in coming days. Red alert warning
issued for 10 cities, including Rome,
Florence and Bologna
BRITAIN
GERMANY
POLAND
FRANCE
PORTUGAL
ROMANIA
SPAIN
BULGARIA
ITALY
TURKEY
Syracuse
GREECE
Spain: Sweltering for days
in temperatures of up to
45°C in much of country
Temperatures could surpass 40°C
in parts of France, Greece and Turkey
graphic news, Sources: ClimateReanalyzer.org; ISGlobal
Institute; Reuters; BBC
Fierce heat wave sweeps across Europe
A heat wave is expected to bring extreme conditions across
large swathes of southern Europe in the next few days
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FORECAST, July 16 (°C)
0°C
10
20
30
40
50
Italy: Record European temperature of
48.8°C registered near Syracuse, Sicily,
in Aug. 2021, could be exceeded
in coming days. Red alert warning
issued for 10 cities, including Rome,
Florence and Bologna
BRITAIN
GERMANY
POLAND
FRANCE
PORTUGAL
ROMANIA
SPAIN
BULGARIA
ITALY
TURKEY
Syracuse
GREECE
Spain: Sweltering for days
in temperatures of up to
45°C in much of country
Temperatures could surpass 40°C
in parts of France, Greece and Turkey
graphic news, Sources: ClimateReanalyzer.org; ISGlobal
Institute; Reuters; BBC
Fierce heat wave sweeps across Europe
A heat wave is expected to bring extreme conditions across
large swathes of southern Europe in the next few days
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FORECAST, July 16 (°C)
0°C
10
20
30
40
50
Italy: Record European temperature of
48.8°C registered near Syracuse, Sicily,
in Aug. 2021, could be exceeded
in coming days. Red alert warning
issued for 10 cities, including Rome,
Florence and Bologna
BRITAIN
GERMANY
POLAND
FRANCE
PORTUGAL
ROMANIA
SPAIN
BULGARIA
ITALY
TURKEY
Syracuse
GREECE
Spain: Sweltering for days
in temperatures of up to
45°C in much of country
Temperatures could surpass 40°C
in parts of France, Greece and Turkey
graphic news, Sources: ClimateReanalyzer.org; ISGlobal Institute; Reuters; BBC
The Italian Ministry of Health urged regions to beef up house-call services so older people don’t have to go out if they need medical care and to set up dedicated heat stations at hospitals to treat emergency cases. Rome braced for temperatures as high as 42 C on Tuesday.
The Italian capital’s civil protection office, volunteers and officials from the local water company plan to be at 28 locations, including the ancient Colosseum and open-air produce markets, to guide residents and tourists to fountains and to distribute bottled water.
The city government said that having volunteers fan out through the city would help hasten the arrival of medical help for people who seem to be suffering ill effects from the heat.
The culprit is a high-pressure anticyclone dubbed Cerberus, after the multi-headed dog in Greek mythology that guards the gates to the underworld. Europe’s third heat wave in a month was expected to affect much of the Mediterranean region and last until Wednesday.
“The bubble of hot air that has inflated over southern Europe has turned Italy and surrounding countries into a giant pizza oven,” Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist and physical geographer at the University of Reading, said in a statement. “The hot air which pushed in from Africa is now staying put, with settled high pressure conditions meaning that heat in warm sea, land and air continues to build.”
The mercury in Rome hit 39 C by 3 p.m. on Monday. Power outages were hitting parts of the city as electric grids sputtered under heavy demand from air conditioners.
A woman cools off at Fontana della Barcaccia at the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy.GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/Reuters
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While the Italian capital’s hot spell was tough on tourists trekking through the cobblestone streets, tourist industry workers sweated through it.
Prince Mack, who is from Liberia, kept hydrated as he hawked tickets to open-top tour buses near central Rome’s Piazza Venezia. “I drank about six of these [water bottles] since this morning, and I’m still going to drink more,” he said at midday.
The Ministry of Health issued 10 recommendations to protect older adults, vulnerable people and pets from the heat. The guidance included staying indoors and avoiding strenuous exercise during the hottest hours of the day and drinking at least 1.5 litres of water daily.
Local celebrities went on state-run RAI television to read the recommendations aloud and get the message out.
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Besides Rome, several other cities, in particular on the southern islands of Sicily and Sardinia, were expected to top 40 C on Tuesday.
Animals were stressed, too. Italian farm lobby Coldiretti noted that cows are producing around 10 per cent less milk due to the heat.
Spain’s Aemet weather agency said the heat wave this week “will affect a large part of the countries bordering the Mediterranean.” Temperatures in some southern areas of Spain were forecast to exceed 42 C before dropping at some point on Wednesday.
Aemet spokesperson Ruben del Campo said that as Cerberus pushes a hot mass of air from Africa toward Europe, the heat and very dry air would cause the risk of wildfires to skyrocket.
A wildfire that started Saturday in Spain’s Canary Islands continued to burn out of control Monday, although authorities said weaker winds and cooler temperatures in the area were helping firefighters combat it. The blaze on the island of La Palma had burned some 4,600 hectares of mostly woody hill land and some 20 houses and buildings as of Monday.
More than 4,000 residents were evacuated from their homes Saturday but were allowed to return as of late Sunday.
Greece got a brief respite from the heat Monday, with opening hours returning to normal at the ancient Acropolis and other sites. But two wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways and gutted vacation homes Monday, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.
Authorities issued evacuation orders for at least six seaside communities as two major wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 70 kilometres an hour.
The army, police special forces and volunteer rescuers freed retirees from their homes, rescued horses from a stable, and helped monks flee a monastery threatened by the flames.
Before nightfall, water-dropping planes and helicopters tackled the flames near Lagonisi, some 40 kilometres southeast of the capital. The second large wildfire broke out in a wooded area near the resort town of Loutraki, some 90 kilometres west of Athens, where a children’s summer camp and rehabilitation center for seniors were evacuated, local officials said.
Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said the strong and changeable winds and mountainous terrain in which both fires broke out were slowing the firefighting effort.
“The conditions are changing constantly and this has to be matched by our response. We have ordered multiple evacuations,” he said. The evacuees gathered along the coastline or were put up in schools and hotels, while coast guard vessels were dispatched to smoke-heavy beachfronts to assist if needed.
On a visit to Brussels, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the risk posed by wildfires this month as “extremely difficult” to deal with.
“We have always had wildfires and we always will have them. But with the effects of the climate crisis, we are experiencing fires with increasing intensity,” Mr. Mitsotakis said, speaking on the margins of talks between leaders from the European Union and Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Greater Athens and much of southern Greece were on the second highest level of alert for wildfires Monday and Tuesday following a four-day heat wave that eased over the weekend. More heat wave temperatures are expected later in the week.
Residents and visitors in areas affected by the two fires received cellphone alerts from the Civil Protection Ministry. Loutraki Mayor Giorgos Gionis said municipal workers were also assisting seniors in the evacuations, adding that the operation had been impeded by cell phone reception outages.
Local officials confirmed that homes had been destroyed and badly damaged in both fires.