Southern Europe struggles with soaring heat as temperatures hit 40C, sparking fears of wildfires and health risks.
Europeans are braced for the first heatwave of the Northern Hemisphere summer, as climate change pushes thermometers on the world’s fastest-warming continent further into the red.
With temperatures expected to rise to 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Italian capital, Rome, on Saturday, the Eternal City’s many tourists and Catholic pilgrims to the Vatican alike have been converging around the Italian capital’s 2,500 public fountains for refreshment.
In France, with residents of the southern port city of Marseille expected to have to cope with temperatures flirting with 40C (104F), authorities ordered public swimming pools to be made free of charge to help residents beat the Mediterranean heat.
Two-thirds of Portugal will be on high alert on Sunday for extreme heat and forest fires with 42C (108F) expected in the capital, Lisbon.
Meanwhile, visitors to – and protesters against – Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos’s Friday wedding in Venice were likewise sweltering under the summer sun.
“I try not to think about it, but I drink a lot of water and never stay still, because that’s when you get sunstroke,” Sriane Mina, an Italian student, told AFP news agency on Friday in Venice.
Meanwhile, Spain, which has in past years seen a series of deadly summer blazes ravaging the Iberian peninsula, is expecting peak temperatures in excess of 40C (104F) across most of the country from Sunday.
Scientists have long warned that humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is heating up the world with disastrous consequences for the environment, with Europe’s ever-hotter and increasingly common blistering summer heatwaves a result of the long-term warming.
With peaks of 39C (102F) expected in the cities of Naples and Palermo, Sicily has ordered a ban on outdoor work in the hottest hours of the day, as has the Liguria region in northern Italy.
The country’s trade unions are campaigning to extend the measure to other parts of the country.
In Greece, the first heatwave of the summer arrived on Thursday when a fast-moving wildfire engulfed holiday homes and forest land on a section of the Greek coastline just 40km (25 miles) south of the capital, Athens.
More than 100 firefighters, supported by two dozen firefighting aircraft, battled the wildfire that tore across the coastal area of Palaia Fokaia. The flames were whipped up by high winds as temperatures approached 40C (104F).
The heatwave comes hot on the heels of a series of tumbling records for extreme heat, including Europe’s hottest March ever, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitor.
As a result of the planet’s warming, extreme weather events including hurricanes, droughts, floods and heatwaves like this weekend’s have become more frequent and intense, scientists warn.
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