The heat wave spreads around the world on Saturday, from Europe to China via the United States, forcing the authorities to take drastic measures to deal with these heat waves and new fires, new illustrations of global warming climatic.
Italy, from north to south, is experiencing a heat wave, with historic temperature records expected in the coming days. On Sunday, 16 cities will be on red alert across the country, with temperatures expected to reach 36/37°C from Rome to Bologna, before a dreaded peak early next week.
“It’s the furnace. We can’t stay too long in the same place, it’s too hot,” Veronika Niederlovi, 16, a Czech tourist who came to visit Rome, told AFP on Saturday morning.
According to the daily Il Messaggero, two amateur footballers aged 48 and 51 died Friday evening, after illness probably due to the heat, during matches in the Naples region (south).
The Italian Meteorological Center says it fears “the most intense heat wave of the summer but also one of the most intense of all time”.
The north of the peninsula should not be spared with 38 ° C expected Tuesday in Milan.
Like Italy, many countries in Europe are also facing an extensive heat wave.
In Germany, over a large part of the country, temperatures could climb up to 38 degrees, according to a press release from the meteorological service published on Saturday. Severe thunderstorms are also expected in the west and south-west with a risk of gusts of up to 110 km / h.
Acropolis closed
Greece is also suffering from a heat wave which forces the authorities, for the second consecutive day, to close the Acropolis of Athens during the hottest hours between 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. local time.
While temperatures of 40°C to 41°C are expected in Athens, “the true temperature felt […] by the body is considerably higher “at the top of the Acropolis, justified on Friday the Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni.
Since Thursday, the Red Cross, deployed at the foot of the Acropolis to help tourists who could be victims of sunstroke or fainting, has distributed more than 50,000 50 cl bottles of water.
The NGO teams have also intervened “dozens of times” to rescue visitors who have suffered in particular from discomfort or shortness of breath in recent days.
North Africa is also affected. In Morocco, a new heat wave is announced until Tuesday, with temperatures varying between 37 and 47 ° C in several provinces, according to the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM).
The heat wave episodes follow one another since the beginning of the summer and temperatures “higher than the average” are announced until August, specified the DGM.
In Asia, several provinces in southern and southeast China will experience high temperatures over the weekend, reaching 35 to 40 degrees C, according to the Central Meteorological Observatory. In parts of the northwest, some cities could even exceed 40°C.
In Japan, the authorities have called on the population to be careful as temperatures are expected to reach 39 ° C on Sunday and Monday in the east of the country, according to the local forecaster.
On the other side of the globe, the southern United States is roasting in the heat: tens of millions of Americans, from California to Texas, experienced dangerously high temperatures on Friday, which are expected to peak over the weekend. -end.
Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, on Friday recorded its 15e day in a row above 43 degrees, according to the US weather services.
California wildfires
In southern California, American firefighters have been fighting several very violent fires since Friday which have ravaged more than 1,214 hectares and led to the evacuation of the population.
For climatologist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, mercury in Death Valley could equal or even exceed the highest air temperature ever reliably measured on Earth, at 54.4°. C registered in the same place in 2020 and 2021, according to several experts.
Smoke from fires in Canada, where more than 500 fires are out of control, had already led to several episodes of heavy air pollution over the northeastern United States in June.
In Jordan, in the grip of a heat wave which exceeded 40 ° C in certain regions, the relief workers are fighting fires in the forests of Ajloun (north).
In Italy, Civil Protection issued fire alert bulletins over much of Sardinia from Sunday, as well as for eastern Sicily, between Messina and Catania.
Globally, June was the hottest month ever measured, according to the European Copernicus and American NASA and NOAA agencies. Then, the first full week of July was in turn the hottest on record, according to preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing the strength, duration and rate of repetition of heat waves, experts say.
Heat is one of the deadliest weather events, the WMO said. Last summer in Europe alone, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths, according to a recent study.