Ashly DhaniBarcelona recorded its hottest ever day as a heat wave engulfs Spain, while London saw its highest temperature so far this year.
Spain’s second-biggest city reached 40C (104F) Tuesday, breaking a record set 42 years earlier, according to the Spanish meteorological agency AEMET. Temperatures are forecast to climb to as high as 43C in parts of the country on Wednesday, with wildfire risks also increasing.
Climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of heat waves, bringing record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events to Europe. The highest average temperature on Earth was recorded earlier this month, according to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The extreme heat impacting large parts of Europe and North Africa — with at least 21 people killed in Morocco — would have been impossible without human-caused climate change, according to analysis by World Weather Attribution. The heat in Europe is made 2.5C to 3.3C hotter by climate change, the group of international scientists said.
“Europe is heating twice as fast as other continents and even quicker than climate models predict,” said Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at the Grantham Institute — Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London.
London reached 32C at Kew Gardens on Tuesday, according to the Met Office. The UK capital is under a yellow warning on Wednesday for thunderstorms, which will extend across most of England on Thursday.
Thunderstorms are also forecast for Olympic host city Paris, where maximum temperatures will moderate to 31C on Wednesday.
Electricite de France SA has extended nuclear output curbs until Sunday, as the heat wave warms the Garonne river used for cooling the Golfech power station in the southwest of the country.
High wildfire risk levels also apply to parts of southern France, Italy and Greece.
Athens and many islands — including Crete and Lesvos — are on very high alert. Five aircraft and three helicopters are helping firefighters tackle a blaze near Pissonas on island of Evia, while villagers on the island of Cephalonia have also been primed to evacuate. Two fires are burning in Peleponnese.
Residents of some villages in northern Greece were told to be ready to evacuate in the face of blazes near Achladochori in Serres and in the municipality of Paionia, including in Pefkodasos, close to border with North Macedonia.
The strong Meltemi summer wind in the Aegean Sea is heightening fire risks. Temperatures on the mainland will climb back to as high as 43C by Friday.
Wildfires forced the evacuation of two villages in southwest Bulgaria. A dozen blazes are still active in neighboring North Macedonia, where one person died while trying to protect their property. − Bloomberg.
Bongani Ndlovu