Greece: the heat wave extends, the thermometer borders on 46 ° C

The heat wave that strikes Greece should be extended until Monday included while the thermometer has come close to 46 ° C on Friday in a country that has already suffocated since the start of the week, depending on the weather services. The highest temperature of this intense heat wave was raised Friday in Skala in the Peloponnese Peninsula (southwest), at 45.8 ° C, according to the Meteo.gr site of the National Observatory of Athens. In Athens and in the port of Piraeus, close to the capital, 42 ° C were recorded in the middle of the day, according to the same source.

Faced with this heat wave, the Greek authorities decided to continue until Sunday included the closure to visitors to the Acropolis of Athens at the hottest hours of the day, between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. This measure, in force since Tuesday, is exceptional over its duration. The national weather services Emy also warned that the heat wave should continue until Monday included before a relative drop in temperatures. They have so far foreshadowed a reflux from the weekend.

Several regions, including Attica, the region of Athens, part of the Peloponnese and the south of the island of Ebée, east of the capital, were placed on a maximum alert for Saturday due to the risk of fire. An important fire is underway in the Kilkis region, in the northeast of Greece where homes and businesses have been evacuated.

According to a spokesperson for firefighters, the fire, due to high temperatures, is very intensity, with the constant formation of new homes. Some 76 firefighters are mobilized as well as 28 vehicles and 2 helicopters. In neighboring Albania, in the last 24 hours, 29 fire departures have been recorded, 10 of which continue to be active, according to the National Civil Protection Agency.

In Greece, the heat wave also submits the electrical network to strong constraints, demand increasingly increasing due to the intense recourse to air conditioners. In 2023, Greece, a customary Mediterranean country of high summer temperatures, had crossed the longest heat wave – two weeks – since the start of the statements, and locally recorded temperatures above 46 ° C. She also suffered last year in the hottest summer in her story.