The mercury continues to approach, or even exceed, 40°C in several regions of Europe and in particular in Greece where several fires broke out on Monday leading to the evacuation of seaside areas, while a new temperature record was set this weekend in western China at 52.2°C.
One thousand two hundred children had to leave summer camps threatened by flames fanned by strong winds near Loutraki, about 80 km west of Athens.
In Kouvaras, about 50 km east of the Greek capital, another fire raged, spreading as far as Avavyssos, 40 km south-east of Athens, in the densely populated region of Attica, and this while Greece has been suffering a heat wave since Thursday with peaks of more than 44°C in the center of its territory.
In Cyprus, where temperatures are expected to remain above 40 degrees until Thursday, a 90-year-old man died on Sunday and three other elderly people are hospitalized with heatstroke, authorities said.
7 French departments on orange alert
The heat wave that is hitting the west of the Mediterranean basin will raise temperatures to 40°C on Tuesday in Provence, Corsica and Occitania, with seven departments on orange alert for a heat wave, according to Météo-France forecasts. .
In addition to the Alpes-Maritimes, at this level since July 9, six other departments will go into orange vigilance on Tuesday: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud, Var, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Vaucluse and the Pyrénées-Orientales.
43°C in Sicily, 44 in southern Spain
In Italy, records were not broken on Monday, with 39°C in the shade in Rome. The maximum temperature, 43°C, was recorded in Agrigento, Sicily, and Taranto in Puglia, also in the south.
The peak of heat is expected on Tuesday in Sardinia, an island where the mercury could approach 48°C. In Spain, which is emerging from an already sweltering week, the weather agency has issued an orange alert for Monday. In the southern region of Murcia, 44°C was locally reached, 42 near Alicante.
The situation will worsen on Tuesday as some places will find themselves at “10 to 15°C” above normal. The alert will turn red over Aragon (north), Catalonia (north-east) and the island of Mallorca (east), with 42° to 44° expected. The intense heat episode should last until Wednesday, before declining from Thursday.
“Tropicalization of the climate”
In Europe, warming is twice as fast as the global average, experts note, and Mediterranean countries are particularly affected. “The hot air that generally descends on the African promontory creating deserts, has moved towards Europe. In this sense, we can speak of a tropicalization of the climate,” Claudio Cassardo, a meteorologist and professor at the University of Turin, told AFP.
In the United States, the weather services observe an “oppressive” heat wave in the south and predict several temperature records. In the famous Death Valley, in California, one of the hottest places on the planet, the thermometer showed 52°C on Sunday.
Several very violent fires in the south of the state have devastated the evacuation of the population. The largest, Rabbit Fire, burned some 3,200 hectares. He was 35% under control Monday morning, authorities said. In Arizona, the capital Phoenix chained an 18th day above 43°C, equaling its record with another 45°C on Monday afternoon.
Megafires in Canada
In Canada, more than ten million hectares have already burned this year, with 882 fires still active on Monday, including 579 considered out of control, explained the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC). Two firefighters died fighting these megafires, authorities said.
The smoke has once again migrated to the United States, triggering air quality alerts in a large part of the American Northeast.
Japan issued heatstroke alerts on Monday for 32 of its 47 prefectures, which are experiencing temperatures close to the all-time high of 41.1°C reached in 2018. This country is also facing torrential rains which have caused the minus eight dead. China meanwhile broke a record for mid-July on Sunday, with 52.2°C in the arid region of Xinjiang, in the west of the country.