Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: GUIZIOU FRANCK / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS VIA AFP 16:31 pm, May 05, 2023

April was marked by "extreme heat" recorded in the Iberian Peninsula and parts of North Africa. According to a scientific study published on Friday, this heat wave, with temperatures sometimes exceeding seasonal normals by 20 degrees, "would have been almost impossible without climate change".

The "extreme heat" recorded at the end of April in the Iberian Peninsula and part of North Africa "would have been almost impossible without climate change", shows a scientific study published Friday. This "exceptionally early heat wave" led to "temperatures sometimes exceeding seasonal normals by 20 degrees and records for the month of April broken by more than 6 degrees," says this report from the World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of scientists assessing the link between extreme weather events and climate change.

Absolute temperature records

A hot, dry air mass from North Africa last week set all-time records for April in Portugal and mainland Spain with 36.9 and 38.8 degrees respectively. That is to say levels worthy of the month of July. In Morocco, local records were broken and temperatures exceeded 41 degrees in places, while in Algeria they crossed the 40 mark.

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"Climate change caused by humanity has multiplied by at least 100 times the probability of this record heat wave in Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Algeria" compared to the pre-industrial climate context and it "would have been almost impossible without climate change," the WWA report said. This heat wave was "so extreme" that it remains a "rare episode in the current climate context", even in a region of the world already accustomed to a multiplication of these phenomena "in recent years", continues the WWA. According to this group of researchers, the temperatures recorded last week in this area were "3.5 degrees higher than they should have been without climate change".

Heat waves 'more frequent and more intense'

"We are going to see more and more frequent and intense heat waves in the future" in this part of the world, warned Sjoukje Philip, a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and a member of the WWA, during a press presentation of the report. These abnormally high temperatures come "after several years of historic drought, which exacerbates the impact of heat on agriculture, already threatened by increasing water shortages," notes the WWA. In Spain, a country whose agricultural regions are nicknamed the "vegetable garden of Europe", the main farmers' union, Coag, estimates that 60% of agricultural land is currently "asphyxiated" by the lack of rainfall.

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The country's reservoirs - where rainwater is stored so that it can be used in the drier months - are currently at less than 50% of their capacity, or even a quarter in some territories, such as Catalonia (northeast) where the situation is extremely worrying. A lack of water that has pushed many farmers to give up spring planting, especially of grains and oilseeds. "The Mediterranean is one of the most exposed regions to climate change in Europe. While the region is already facing a long-lasting and very intense drought, these high temperatures at a time when it is expected to rain make the situation worse," warns Friederike Otto, of Imperial College London, one of the lead authors of the study.

Climate "conspiracy"

In this context of increasing heat waves in Spain, which last year experienced its hottest year, the government defended the national meteorological agency Aemet, targeted by a flood of insults and threats, against a background of climate "conspiracy". "Murderers", "criminals", "we are watching you", "you will pay for it": Aemet claims to have received in recent weeks a lot of messages criticizing these forecasts and analyses linking abnormal heat episodes to climate change.

Attacks denounced by the Minister of Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera. "Lying, fueling conspiracy and fear, insulting... It impoverishes our society," she denounced Friday on her Twitter account, calling to "say stop" to these practices.