The “extraordinary” heat wave will suffocate Spain before reaching France

Madrid | With temperatures hovering above 40 degrees, the “extraordinary” episode of the period caused by global warming, the heat wave suffocated Spain on Monday before reaching France on Tuesday.

The episode, which comes just days after the hottest month of May in Spain for at least 100 years, has led to “extreme temperatures,” meteorological spokeswoman Ruben del Campo told AFP. Spanish (Aemet).

The localized depression between the Azores and the Madeira will gradually bring very hot air from the Maghreb to Western Europe, which began this weekend and will “last until the end of the week,” he said.

Mr Del Campo said the “extreme heat in the spring was not normal” and was caused by “global warming”.

According to Aemet, temperatures in the central and southern part of the country can hover above 40 degrees and as high as 43 degrees in Andalusia (south), especially in Cordoba or Seville.

And in these parts of Spain the nightly mercury is not less than 20 or 25 degrees.

“Started” in France

According to scientists, the multiplication of heat waves, especially in Europe, is the evolution of global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions increase their power, duration, and frequency.

Over the past ten months, Spain has experienced four episodes of extreme temperatures: in August 2021 the heat waves broke the highest temperature ever recorded in the country (47.4 degrees in southern Montero), with “unusually high” temperatures between Christmas and New Year’s, early rise in May and current rise.

In France, the hot air comes from the southwest of the country on Tuesday, with temperatures hovering around 35-36 C in the south, extending into the south on Wednesday and into the north.

In the south, “large heat peaks of 35 to 38 C on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays”, as well as 40 ° C locally, forecasters in Météo-France explained to AFP Frederick Nathan.

He noted that the episode “began primarily, nationally, from the beginning of the action.”

Restrictions on water use have already been introduced in 35 French departments, about a third of the country.

Fire alarm

This heat wave comes especially after the hot and dry spring, which has caused much drought in France, raising fears about crops and creating favorable conditions for fires.

In Portugal, the heat wave, which started on Friday, is expected to last until the end of the week, with temperatures hovering between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius and in some areas reaching 40 degrees Celsius, according to the National Weather Service. .

The country has recorded the hottest May since 1931 and the risk of wildfires is highest, as almost all of its territory suffers from “severe drought”.

In the same scenario in Spain, according to Aemet, most of the territory fire risk is “severe”.