The heat wave that has plagued Europe since the beginning of the week, concentrated in recent days in southern regions of the continent, such as Italy, made 16 cities in the country issue maximum temperature alerts this Friday (22). The maximum predicted in these places reached 40°C, and the fear also involves the increased risk of fires.
In Milan, temperatures were expected to reach 40°C throughout the day, dropping in the late afternoon to close to 27°C, configuring a tropical night. In Bologna and Rome, the predicted peaks were 39°C.
The commune of Pavia, in the north of the country, recorded 39.6°C on Thursday (21), a record temperature in the region.
According to the portal Ilmeteo, which specializes in Italian meteorology, the country is about to “feel the maximum power of the anticyclone Apocalypse 4,800” — a reference to the dry air mass present on the continent and which, as it moves slowly or is sometimes stationary, configures an atmospheric blockage.
The phenomenon, which takes this number because it is 4,800 meters above sea level, receives warm winds from North Africa and the Sahara region, keeping temperatures high and air humidity low, increasing the likelihood of fires.
In Italy, the flames reached a vast region of Tuscany, near Massarosa, in the center of the country, where 860 hectares were burned and 1,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. The prosecutor’s office in Lucca, the city hardest hit by the fire, opened an investigation, saying the fire could be of criminal origin. Others arrived in areas near Rome, Milan and Trieste.
But this week’s widespread heat wave has causes that go beyond the circumstantial technicality of the anticyclone: scientists point out that these phenomena have occurred more often, with more intensity and earlier and earlier as a direct consequence of the climate crisis.
“For three consecutive months — May, June and July — a climate anomaly was recorded, with temperatures at least two or three degrees above the seasonal average,” noted Ilmeteo. According to the portal, the anomaly should last until the beginning of August, which worsens droughts and causes fires throughout the peninsula.
Firefighters and emergency health services in several countries are under pressure. According to Copernicus, the European space surveillance service, 27,571 hectares have been engulfed in flames in Italy so far in 2022; in France, 39,904, compared to 199,651 in Spain, 149,324 in Romania and 48,106 in Portugal.
In the last few weeks alone, forest fires have affected an area larger than that recorded in the whole of 2021. In the 27 countries of the European Union, a total of 517,881 hectares have been devastated since the beginning of the year, according to calculations made until 16 July. by Copernicus.
Heat and flames in Europe
The heat wave had serious effects throughout the week. In the UK, a massive fire hit Wennington, east of London, destroying properties and prompting residents to evacuate the area for safety.
The capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the local fire department spent Tuesday (19) under pressure, responding to more than 1,600 calls, four times more than on an average day. The country surpassed the record of 40°C on that date for the first time in history. Overload was also reported in the London ambulance service.
In Greece, residents of a mountainous region near Athens were forced from their homes by the fire. The fires also affected France, forcing the displacement of thousands of tourists and residents.
In Spain and Portugal, more than 1,000 deaths are investigated on suspicion of being directly or indirectly associated with the heat wave. On Monday (18), the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, compared the climate emergency to a “collective suicide” in a meeting with authorities from 40 countries in Berlin.
