The Guardian - Jon Henley
Authorities in 11 countries warn residents and tourists to take
precautions amid region’s most intense heatwave – nicknamed Lucifer –
since 2003
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Children play in a jet stream fountain in Pamplona, Spain.
Photograph: Villar Lopez/EPA
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Eleven southern and central European countries have issued extreme
heat warnings amid a brutal heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, with residents
and tourists urged to take precautions and scientists warning worse
could be still to come.
Authorities in countries including Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia are on red alert,
the European forecasters’ network Meteoalarm said, and swaths of southern Spain and France are on amber.
As temperatures in many places hit or exceeded 40C (104F) in the
region’s most sustained heatwave since 2003, emergency services are
being put on standby and people have been asked to “remain vigilant”,
stay indoors, avoid long journeys, drink enough fluids and listen for
emergency advice from health officials.
At least two people have died from the heat, one in Romania and one in
Poland,
and many more taken to hospital suffering from sunstroke and other
heat-related conditions. Italy said its hospitalisation rate was 15%
above normal and asked people in affected regions only to travel if
their journey was essential. Polish officials warned of possible
infrastructure failures.
A spokeswoman for Abta, the UK travel trade organisation, reinforced
the advice for holidaymakers, saying they should take sensible
precautions, keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water, stay out of the
sun in the middle of the day, and follow any advice issued by health
authorities in specific destinations.
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| A cyclist waits to cross a road next to a thermometer showing 41C in Valencia, eastern Spain. Photograph: Manuel Bruque/EPA
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The heatwave, now in its fourth day and expected to last until next Wednesday,
follows an earlier spell of extreme temperatures last month that fuelled a spate of major wildfires, exacerbated droughts in Italy and Spain, and damaged crops.
The highest temperature on Thursday was 42C in Cordoba, Spain, and Catania, Italy.
Split in Croatia also hit 42.3C on Wednesday. The spell is forecast to peak at the weekend with temperatures of 46C or higher in Italy and parts of the Balkans.
Authorities in
Italy,
which is suffering its worst drought in 60 years, have placed 26 cities
on the maximum extreme heat alert, including Venice and Rome. Many of
Rome’s fountains have been turned off, and last week the city only
narrowly averted drastic water rationing.
In Florence, the Uffizi art gallery was temporarily closed on Friday when the air-conditioning system broke down. In
Hungary, keepers at Budapest zoo cooled down two overheating polar bears with huge ice blocks.
Temperatures along parts of Croatia’s Adriatic coast, including
Dubrovnik, were expected to hit 42C during the day. In the Serbian
capital of Belgrade there were reports of people fainting from heat
exhaustion.
Extreme heat warnings across southern Europe as temperatures hit 40C and above
Highs in
Spain,
including in popular holiday resorts on the Costa del Sol and on the
island of Majorca, are set to reach 43C this weekend, with extreme
conditions also forecast in Seville, Malaga and Granada. Ibiza and
Mallorca could hit 42C, Spain’s Aemet meteorological service warned.
While Europe’s record high is 48C, set in Athens in 1977, current
temperatures are in many places as much as 10-15C higher than normal for
the time of year and likely to result in more fatalities, experts have
said.
Europe’s record-breaking 2003 heatwave
resulted in more than 20,000 heat-related deaths, mainly of old and
vulnerable people, including 15,000 in France, where temporary
mortuaries were set up in refrigerated lorries.
Such spells of extreme heat in southern Europe could be a foretaste of things to come.
French researchers last month predicted summer conditions in some of the continent’s popular tourist destinations could become significantly tougher.
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| Szeriy, a polar bear at Budapest zoo, has been given blocks of ice to
combat the heat. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images
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Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the scientists
said if a similar “mega-heatwave” to that of 2003 were to occur at the
end of the century, when average temperatures are widely expected to be
noticeably higher after decades of global warming, temperatures could
pass 50C.
The researchers noted that climate models suggest “human influence is
expected to significantly increase the frequency, duration and
intensity of heatwaves in Europe” and said their modelling suggested
that by 2100, peak summer temperatures could rise by between 6C and 13C
against historical records.
The village of
Conqueyrac in the Gard department
of France hit 44.1C on two occasions in the summer of 2003, the highest
temperature ever recorded in the country, meaning “the record maximum
value could easily exceed 50C by the end of the 21st century”, the
scientists concluded.
The current extreme temperatures, coupled with strong winds, have fanned wildfires that have already
caused more than 60 deaths this summer in Portugal and caused widespread damage in southern France, Greece and Italy.
About 300 firefighters and military personnel were fighting 75
wildfires on Friday in Albania, with firefighters also busy in Serbia,
Bosnia, Macedonia,
Croatia, Greece and the French island of Corsica.
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| Children cool off in water on a square in Tirana, Albania. Photograph: Malton Dibra/EPA
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In Italy, fires killed a 79-year-old woman in the central Abruzzo
region and forced the closure of the main Via Aurelia coastal motorway
that runs northwards from Rome to the Italian Riviera.
The country’s winemakers have started harvesting their grapes weeks
earlier than usual due to the heat. The founder of the Slow Food
movement, Carlo Petrini, said no harvest in living memory had begun
before 15 August.
The heatwave is likely to cost Italy’s agricultural sector billions
of euros, with as many as 11 regions facing critical water shortages.
Olive yields in some areas are forecast to be down 50% and some milk
production has fallen by up to 30%.
Bosnian officials said the heatwave and drought had nearly halved
agricultural output, which represents 10% of the country’s economic
output, and Serbia said its corn production could be cut a third.
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