The hottest day of the year so far in Greece, red alert in Italy: the heat has a firm grip on southern Europe. The severe drought also increases the risk of forest fires.
The heat wave in southern Europe is continuing – temperatures in Greece are said to have peaked in the meantime. On Friday, the highest temperature of the year was measured in Thebes, around 50 kilometers northwest of Athens, at 44.2 degrees Celsius, according to the National Observatory. Meteorologists did not expect the heat to drop over the weekend.
For the second day in a row, authorities closed the Acropolis in Athens for the hottest hours. As the Ministry of Culture announced, the landmark will be closed from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The day before there had been closing times for the tourist attraction. On Friday morning, a tourist suffered mild heat stroke while visiting the Acropolis Hill.
The Ministry of Environment and Energy called for a reduction in the use of private cars because exhaust gases in conurbations such as Athens and Thessaloniki polluted the air more in the heat. In addition, due to the increased risk of fire, caution was advised when handling fuels such as petrol. The railway company OSE announced that the trains would slow down because of the high temperatures to ensure safety on the hot rails.
Red alert in Italian cities
In Italy, the Ministry of Health issued a red alert heat warning for several cities, including the capital Rome, Bologna and Florence. According to the newspaper “Il Messaggero”, two amateur footballers aged 48 and 51 died in the Naples region as a result of ailments believed to have been caused by the heat.
There is no cooling in sight for the country in the coming days either: on Tuesday it could even be 42 or 43 degrees hot in Rome. The previous heat record of 40.5 degrees from August 2007 for the Italian capital could fall. On the Italian Mediterranean island of Sardinia, the highest temperature ever measured in Europe of 48.8 degrees could be exceeded these days.
Northern Italy is not spared from extreme temperatures either: 38 degrees are expected for Milan on Tuesday. Due to climate change, such situations occur much more frequently and are also more intense, meteorologist Claudio Cassardi told “Il Messaggero”.
Fires on Naxos and in Croatia
The risk of forest fires is increasing as a result of the extreme drought and, in some places, rising winds. A bush fire has already broken out on the Greek holiday island of Naxos, which could be extinguished with fire engines and helicopters.
There was also a fire in Croatia, where a fire broke out on Thursday in the hinterland of the coastal towns of Sibenik and Primosten. Around 140 firefighters managed to fight down the flames by Friday, the Croatian news portal “index.hr” reported.
The European Space Agency ESA warned that the heat wave would also affect Germany and Poland in addition to Greece, Italy, Spain and France.