Almost 50 degrees! Heat record is approaching

Southern Europe already had to go through the first heat battle in April, and the temperatures there are now reaching their highest values since weather records began. After 35 degrees in spring and up to 44 degrees in early July, temperatures are now climbing towards 50 degrees in the shade.

The heat wave responsible for this is called “Cerberus” and has Spain, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Italy and large parts of North Africa in its grip. Much like her namesake, the three-headed hellhound from Dante’s “Inferno,” she is synonymous with conditions hostile to life.

New temperature record in Europe is approaching

A few days ago, the temperature in some sunlit areas of the Spanish region of Extremadura already reached 60 degrees, as confirmed by images from the European satellite “Sentinel 3”. Since new maximum values have to be measured in the shade, the European temperature record has not yet been broken, but that does not seem to be far away either. According to the forecasts, it could be in Italy at the beginning of next week: “Cerberus” will then be followed by “Caronte”.

In Sardinia, this high pressure area should drive the measurements up to 48.8 degrees in the shade in the coming days, possibly even a little more. This could replace the previous heat record in Europe. This was only achieved in Sicily in the summer of 2021.

The small town of Floridia in the southeast of the Italian island also shimmered at 48.8 degrees at the time. The aptly named high “Lucifer” was to blame, as was the climate crisis. Because: Heat waves are becoming increasingly worse due to the ongoing global warming, as climate scientists and meteorologists have been warning for years. Their analyzes recently revealed for the southern European heat wave of April 2023: The man-made climate crisis has made this extreme weather event around 100 times more likely.

In many places 40 degrees and more

The highest heat warning level currently applies to a total of ten cities in Italy, including Rome, Bologna and Florence. More than 40 degrees are expected here again this weekend. In the capital, a road maintenance worker who was painting a zebra crossing despite the great heat died this week.

In Spain, where the second official heat wave is pushing the thermometers on the mainland and especially in Andalusia up to the 40-degree mark, there is a ban on working outdoors in large parts. As a reaction to the heat death of a Madrid street sweeper last year, work is no longer allowed there during a heat wave in the afternoon.

In Greece, too, people are preparing for extremes: in Athens, the thermometer is expected to climb to 41 degrees this Friday. The Ministry of Culture has instructed the managers of archaeological sights such as the Acropolis to temporarily close the visitor magnets for several hours if it gets too hot.

In Bulgaria it is the first heat wave of the year: on Thursday the authorities announced the second highest warning level, orange – it was the hottest day since the beginning of the year. There are maximum temperatures of up to 41 degrees in Plovdiv and in Russe on the Danube. According to meteorologists, the heat wave should have the country firmly under control for around ten days. It remains more pleasant with around 32 degrees on the Black Sea coast.

In Turkey, too, the weather service warns of intense heat for the weekend. In the west of the country, the temperatures in the coming days will be up to ten degrees above the usual temperature for the season, in other parts of the country up to six degrees above normal. In the holiday region of Antalya, up to 42 degrees are expected at the weekend. Temperatures of up to 40 degrees can also be reached in the regions of south-eastern Turkey that were destroyed by the earthquake in February. This is particularly bitter for the people there: many of them still live in emergency shelters.

Hot, hotter, 2023

The Iberian Peninsula already experienced the hottest year in many decades in 2022: While the average temperatures in Spain were last comparable in 1961, Portugal came close to its temperature record of 1931. For Italy it was even the hottest year since weather data has been available. Summer 2022 is the hottest so far for Europe as a whole.

It is true that there have been very hot years from time to time in the past. However, the weather data show the worrying trend of the recent past: In southern Europe, but also in Germany and worldwide, it is more often much warmer than usual.

Experts point to the climate crisis as the reason for the rising average temperatures and the increasingly frequent and more intense heat waves: “It is very likely that the length, frequency and intensity of heat waves will continue to increase due to global warming,” said the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its 2021 report.

The fact that temperatures are now reaching record levels in many places and could even surpass the highest temperature ever measured in Europe also has to do with the start of the El Niño weather phenomenon: every two to seven years it is responsible for particularly high temperatures. In combination with increasingly frequent, longer and hotter heat waves, this is becoming an ominous mixture that has already given the earth a worldwide negative record a few days ago.

Never before since weather records began has the global average temperature been as high as on July 3, 2023. At 17.01 degrees Celsius – the mean of all temperatures from Antarctica to the Sahara – the previous record of 16.92 degrees from the year shattered 2016. A few days later, the UN weather organization World Meteorological Organization confirmed: The entire first week of July 2023 was the hottest ever globally.

How to protect yourself

Since temperatures of more than 30 degrees – let alone more than 40 degrees – can make you ill and even fatal, doctors, weather services and affected holiday regions call for particular caution. Elderly people over 65, the sick, small children and pets in particular must be protected from the heat because their circulation is particularly vulnerable.

The warnings of the Spanish weather service Aemet also show how dangerous extreme temperatures are for the human body. The weather experts warn that the heat is “life-threatening”. In the particularly hot midday hours between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. you should not go outside, and under no circumstances should you do any sport.

“Not even for a minute” should animals or people be left in cars, as they could heat up rapidly. You also have to protect yourself from the sun as best you can, drink enough water, wear light clothing and eat light food.

The fact that these warnings are no coincidence is also increasingly evident in the number of heat deaths: In the summer of 2022 there were more than 60,000 heat-related deaths in Europe, as a research team reported in the journal “Nature Medicine” on Monday. With 8,173 deaths, Germany had the third highest number of heat victims. More people died only in Italy (18,010 deaths) and Spain (11,324 deaths).