With peaks over 40°C, a heat wave suffocated spain Monday June 13, 2022 before reaching France on Tuesday, an episode not normal
for the period caused by global warming.
This episode, which comes a few days after the hottest month of May for at least 100 years in Spain, results in extreme temperatures
told AFP Ruben del Campo, spokesman for the Spanish meteorological agency (Aemet).
Caused by a localized depression between the Azores and Madeira which gradually brings very hot air from the Maghreb to Western Europe, it started this weekend and could last until the end of the week
he added.
Heat that “is not normal”
This extreme heat, at this time of spring, is not normal
and is due to global warming
underlined Ruben Del Campo.
According to Aemet, temperatures will exceed 40°C in the center and south of the country and could even rise to 43 degrees in Andalusia (south), especially in Cordoba and Seville.
And the mercury will not drop below 20 or 25°C at night in these parts of Spain.
According to scientists, the multiplication of heat waves, particularly in Europe, is a consequence of global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions increase their power, duration and frequency.
Four episodes of extreme temperatures over the last ten months
Over the last ten months, Spain has gone through four episodes of extreme temperatures: a heat wave in August 2021 when the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the country was broken (47.4 degrees in Montoro, in the South), temperatures exceptionally high
between Christmas and New Year’s Day, an early wave in May and the current wave.
In France, a record was recorded on Monday for the month of June, with 37.6°C in Cuers (south-east).
Hot air will arrive in the south-west of the country on Tuesday where temperatures could reach 35-36°C, before spreading over the entire southern half on Wednesday and then north.
For the southern half, the peak will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with 35 to 39°C, or even 40°C locally, Frédéric Nathan, forecaster at Météo-France, told AFP.
A risk of forest fires at the highest
This episode could be a priori, on a national scale, the earliest since the start of the measures
he specified.
Restrictions on the use of water have already been introduced in 35 French departments, i.e. almost a third of the country.
In Portugal, this heat wave, which started on Friday and is also expected to last until the end of the week, has resulted in temperatures ranging between 30 and 35 degrees and which can reach 40 degrees in some areas, according to the National Meteorological Institute.
While the country recorded the hottest month of May since 1931 and almost all of its territory suffered from a severe drought
the risk of forest fires is at its highest.
Same scenario in Spain where, according to Aemet, the risk of fires is extreme
over the vast majority of the territory.
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