Heat wave: the south of Europe suffocates

The heat wave episode continues on Saturday, in southern Europe, in particular in France with risks of multiplied fires. The phenomenon promises to be even more sèvere, Sunday in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

In France, Sunday and Monday, the thermometer will display at least 35 ° C on two-thirds of the country, promising “very unpleasant” nights, during which Mercury should not descend below 20 degrees, according to Tristan AMM, forecastist at Météo-France.

The phenomenon strikes the south of the country on Saturday for the second consecutive day, before an extension to the north, notably causing the risk of multiplied fires. He must last at least until Tuesday.

Météo-France expects temperatures to reach 34 to 38 ° C on Saturday afternoon, on the departments concerned by orange vigilance, and that they “punctually 40 ° C near the Mediterranean”.

The cause of this new peak is in France a “heat dome”: a large and powerful anticyclone forms a kind of cover that blocks air in low layers, preventing the entrance to disturbances, while gradually warming it.

In Marseille, the town hall announced free municipal swimming pools and published a mapping of public places with air conditioning.

The City of Nice, for its part, ensures that nearly 250 portable fans “have been delivered, these last two weeks”, to schools and that a distribution of fans for isolated elderly has been set up.

In Italy, 17 cities are placed on a red alert (level 3) on Saturday, both in the North, as in Milan, Bologna and Turin, as in the South, especially in Naples and Palermo, with temperature peaks expected at 39 ° C. The heat wave will strike even stronger on Sunday, with 21 cities placed on a red alert.

Certain regions, such as Liguria and Sicily, have issued orders prohibiting outdoor work during the most risky time slots and unions are mobilizing to extend this implementation in other regions.

The heat has increased an increase in the number of calls for rescue in the last week, the ANSA agency reported.

In Rome, the thermometer already displayed 30 ° C at 10 a.m. and temperatures should reach up to 37 ° C, depending on the forecast. On Saturday, the many tourists visiting the Eternal City, somehow are trying to protect themselves from heat, with hats, masks and sunscreen or by quenching in one of the public fountains.

In Spain, several regions are on orange alert on Saturday due to the high temperatures which could result from the first heat wave of summer, up to 42ºC in certain areas, according to the Spanish state agency (AEMET).

The worst episode is expected for Sunday and, with greater uncertainty, for Monday, when thermometers could exceed 40ºC in the southwest of the country and in certain areas of the northeast. “We expect temperatures to exceed 42ºC in the Guadalquivir, Guadiana and Tagus area, without excluding the Ebreal,” said Aemet.

The strong feeling of heat also contributes to the fact that the maritime waters of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands “exceed 26 ° C: a record figure for these dates, typical of mid-August”, underlined Aemet in his account X.

The last three years have already been in the warmest in Spain in its history. In Portugal, two thirds of the country will be on orange alert on Sunday, with 42 ° C provided for in Lisbon and a maximum risk of fire.