Western Europe hit by another intense heat wave
Tourists cover their heads near Ronda, Spain, during the second intense heat wave of this summer of 2022. © Jon Nazca, Reuters
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4 mins
After Spain and Portugal already in the midst of a heat wave, the United Kingdom and France – where a thousand hectares of forest have gone up in smoke – are in turn preparing on Wednesday July 13 to suffer the full brunt of a second wave of heat in just one month.
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The proliferation of these phenomena is a direct consequence of climate change
according to scientists, with greenhouse gas emissions increasing in intensity, duration and frequency.
The
heat wave
that has settled over
Western Europe
"
mainly affects Spain and Portugal but is expected to intensify and spread
", said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization, in Geneva. .
She warned of the critical situation of "
very, very dry soils
" and the impact of temperatures on the glaciers of the Alps: "
It's a very bad season for glaciers
", she insisted, a little more than a week after the collapse in Italy of a huge block of the Marmolada glacier, weakened by global warming, which killed eleven people.
Fires in the southwest of France
In France, two fires – favored by the heatwave episode – burned 1,000 hectares of forest on Tuesday, in the Bordeaux region, in the south-west of the country.
The most important destroyed 800 hectares of pines near Landiras, about forty kilometers from Bordeaux, leading to the evacuation of 250 people, according to the sub-prefecture.
And near the tourist site of the Dune du Pilat, the highest in Europe, located on the Bassin d'Arcachon, some 6,000 campers were evacuated as a precaution overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday due to another fire , which consumed some 180 hectares of old pines, according to a fire official.
The episode of high heat should last in France at least until the beginning of next week.
From Wednesday, the mercury will reach 31 to 36 degrees, locally up to 37/38 degrees in the Southwest.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne called on the government to mobilize in the face of the “
very rapid impact
” of the heat “
on the state of health of the populations, in particular of the most vulnerable people
”.
In England, call to save water used for tea
The high temperatures are then expected to spread to other parts of western or central Europe.
In
the United Kingdom
, the weather agency (Met Office) has issued an orange alert ahead of an "
extreme heat
" wave from Sunday with temperatures that could exceed 35 degrees.
“
Temperatures are expected to rise later this week and next week for most of England and Wales
” and exceed 35 degrees in the south-east of the country.
The British have also been called by their water companies to save every drop, in particular by heating only the quantity strictly necessary for their cup of tea.
Unbearable heat in Spain and Portugal
With mercury over 40°C, Spain and
Portugal
continue to suffocate.
Fanned by these exceptional temperatures and by violent winds, the forest fires which had hit central Portugal this weekend resumed with force on Tuesday, causing the evacuation of several villages and mobilizing more than a thousand firefighters.
According to images from local television, firefighters and residents were trying to slow the advance of the flames which threatened several localities in the municipalities of Leiria, Pombal, Ourém or Alvaizere, just over a hundred kilometers north of Lisbon.
The risk of fire had already prompted the authorities to close the very touristy Sintra natural park, west of Lisbon, while the temperature rose to 43.1 degrees in the center of the country.
“
The weather forecast for the next few days remains extremely worrying for the risk of fires
,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa reiterated on Tuesday.
In
Spain
, temperatures
again crossed the 40°C mark
in much of the western half of the country, especially in areas that are usually temperate.
Thus 43.3°C were recorded in Cordoba (south) then 43.5°C in Ribadavia (Galicia, north-west), according to the weather agency (Aemet).
In Mérida (southeast), it was logically even hotter: 43.9°C.
The peak of this scorching wave is expected to last until Thursday.
Heat wave: Spaniards live in the evening
Diane Cambon
In Madrid, this heat was extremely difficult to bear in the non-air-conditioned offices.
"
It's hell
," sighed, sweat on the brow, Dania Arteaga, a 43-year-old Venezuelan, between two squeegee strokes to clean the windows of a store in the center of the Spanish capital.
Favored by these exceptional temperatures, several fires were raging in the country, one of which had already burned 2,500 hectares of vegetation in Extremadura (west).
According to the government, between January 1 and July 3, 70,354 hectares of forest went up in smoke in Spain, almost double (+87%) the average of the last ten years.
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