It was exactly 1:14 p.m. on this Wednesday afternoon when the thermometer at a weather station near the Sicilian city of Syracuse showed 48.8 degrees.
Sure, you are used to heat, even great heat, in Sicily. It is normal for it to be more than 40 degrees in August. But almost 50 degrees?
“It’s a record that worries us,” said Syracuse Mayor Francesco Italia, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “Our ecosystem, one of the richest and most precious in Europe, is in grave danger.”
48.8 degrees, never before has a higher temperature been measured in Europe. There were 47.3 degrees in 2017 near the Spanish city of Córboda, 48.0 degrees were measured on July 10, 1977 at Athens Airport, 48.5 degrees on August 10, 1999 in Sicily, near the city of Enna in the middle of the island, however, it was a private and not an official station.
So now: 48.8 degrees. The value has not yet been officially confirmed. So it is not yet clear whether the value of Syracuse is actually a record. What is clear, however, is that this summer’s heat waves will have devastating effects. Not just in Sicily. In many southern European countries – in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Algeria – large forest fires are raging at the same time.
As for Italy, the heat is likely to continue and get even worse in the coming days. The Ministry of Health in Rome issued the highest heat wave warning level for many Italian cities for Thursday and Friday. It is said to be extremely hot with temperatures of more than 38 degrees in the capital Rome, in Bari on the Adriatic Sea and in Palermo in Sicily. Even for Trieste in the extreme northeast of Italy, the meteorologists expect great heat. This heat, the extreme drought and the strong wind in many regions fuel the forest fires again and again.