Scorching days in Morocco. The kingdom recorded “absolute records” of temperatures this weekend during an “exceptional” heat wave, the mercury approaching 50 degrees and in places exceeding the monthly normal of 5 to 12 degrees, authorities said Monday. meteorological.
Saturday was “the hottest day with exceptional temperatures, never measured all months combined in certain regions”, according to the press release from the Directorate General of Meteorology (DGM), which specifies that “absolute records of maximum temperatures have been broken “.
49.6 ° C in the Northwest
On this scorching day, the thermometer displayed 49.6 ° C in Sidi Slimane (north-west), the highest temperature this weekend in the kingdom. “This scorching weather is due to the rise of a mass of dry and hot air from the South causing a significant rise in temperatures”, explained the DGM, predicting a drop in temperatures during the coming days in the north and the is of the country.
The year 2020 has already been the hottest ever recorded in Morocco, with “a national annual average temperature of +1.4 ° C compared to the climatological normal over the period 1981-2010”, according to a previous press release from the meteorological department. This unprecedented heat wave comes as several countries such as Spain, Canada and the United States are facing a rise in temperatures to extreme levels.
The hottest 2010-2019 decade on record
Heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming, scientists say, and these heat waves are set to multiply, lengthen and intensify even more.
So far, human activity has caused global temperatures to rise more than 1 ° C compared to the pre-industrial era, resulting in more destructive storms, more intense heat waves, droughts and an increase in Forest fires.
The decade 2010-2019 was the hottest on record and the five hottest years on record were in the last five years.