Italy headed for record temperatures as southern Europe grips with heatwave

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Temperatures in Italy are expected to hit record highs this week as much of southern Europe is gripped by a severe heat wave, prompting authorities to rush medical facilities for the most vulnerable and asking people to stay indoors in the middle of the day. has been warned.

Researchers have estimated that around 61,600 people across Europe – including 18,000 in Italy – died of heat-related causes between May and September last year, as the region was hit by extreme weather, making heat a public health concern. creating apprehension for

In Italy, Spain, parts of France, Greece and the Balkans, thermometers are inching towards 40C. Meteorologists forecast the city’s temperature could reach an all-time high of 43C on Tuesday in Rome, while the mercury is forecast to reach 48C on the island of Sardinia.

The Italian weather forecasting agency Il Meteo said the heatwave was unprecedented in terms of its intensity, duration and spread.

“Even in a time of climate change, we are on the threshold of a historic heatwave,” meteorologist Mattia Gussoni wrote on the Il Meteo website. “It’s not quite normal for temperatures to be 42C to 44C for so many days and in so many cities.”

As Italian authorities urged citizens to stay indoors in the middle of the day, Greece’s Acropolis was closed for several hours on Friday and again on Saturday after a visitor collapsed in the heat.

At least 4,000 people were evacuated as a precaution because of wildfires in La Palma, one of the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa.

Forecasts of record temperatures in the coming days come as an anticyclone called Charon – named after the sailor of the dead in Greek mythology – approaches from North Africa.

As authorities across Europe urged citizens to take precautions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among those who faced the full brunt of the heat as Israel was also hit by high temperatures.

Netanyahu went to hospital on Saturday with mild dizziness after he said he had spent time in the sun on the Sea of ​​Galilee without a hat and enough water – “It’s not a good idea”, he said in a social media video. Doctors concluded that he was suffering from dehydration.

The heat wave in southern Europe comes just months after Italy’s agriculturally rich Emilia-Romagna region suffered from widespread flooding, as unusually heavy rain brought the equivalent of seven months’ rainfall in two weeks. The floods killed 17 people and destroyed crops worth billions of dollars.

Passengers’ woes in the sweltering heat in Italy were compounded by a one-day airline strike that disrupted flight services on Saturday, following a strike by rail workers on Thursday.

Italy’s agriculture lobby Coldiretti estimated that fruit consumption in the country has risen by 20 percent in the past week as Italians seek to refresh themselves with juicy fresh produce.