Europe heatwave: Thousands evacuate amid Spain wildfire as Italy braces for 49C

Jump to content Sign up to our newsletters Subscribe News Sports Voices Culture Lifestyle Travel Premium Close Europeans seek shade as heatwave grips much of the continent Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as firefighters struggle to contain a wildfire tearing through the Spanish Canary Islands. The fire began in La Palma early on Saturday and has already destroyed 4,500 hectares (11,100 acres) of land and at least a dozen homes. Earlier, some tourists were reportedly sent to hospital in Athens, Greece as they arrived in droves at the Acropolis even as the authorities shut the monument’s gates between midday and early evening amid a severe heatwave . Kim Adams, visiting from Scotland told Sky News: ‘It’s quite difficult today, really very hot’. Temperatures in Italy are predicted to climb as high as 49C in Puglia,  Sardinia and Sicily next week, as the heatwave gripping Southern Europe shows no sign of abating. Red alerts for extreme heat have been issued in 16 cities across Italy as the Mediterranean country is gripped by blistering hot temperatures. 1689409019 Authorities in Italy have issued red alerts for 16 cities across the country amid a sweltering heatwave. Bologna, Florence and Rome are among some of the cities affected, with residents there told to take extra care. Temperatures could exceed 40C in parts of Puglia, Sicily, and Sardinia, forecasters say. Matt Mathers 15 July 2023 09:16 1689489785 Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as firefighters struggle to contain a wildfire tearing through the Spanish Canary Islands. The fire began in La Palma early on Saturday and has already destroyed 4,500 hectares (11,100 acres) of land and at least a dozen homes. Officials said around 400 troops from various agencies remain on the ground tackling the blaze. Authorities said some 4,255 people had been evacuated but that others were declining to leave. Matt Mathers 16 July 2023 07:43 1689489053 With the summer heat upon us, it means that our homes may become uncomfortably hot, especially at night. As it gets hotter, it can be tempting to open your windows to let in some fresh air when the weather gets too warm – but should you keep them shut instead? According to NHS advice, curtains should be kept shut to keep sun-facing rooms as shaded as possible. To open, or not to open? That is the question Alisha Rahaman Sarkar 16 July 2023 07:30 1689487253 A deadly heatwave sweeping across Europe with temperatures forecast to shatter records in the coming days stands in complete contrast to the weather faced by the United Kingdom that has had wet and windy conditions continuing this week. As the UK gets prolonged showers – the Met Office predicts unsettled conditions to continue for the next few days – the Mediterranean region grapples with soaring heat that could touch a new European record as soon as this week. When is the next UK heatwave? Alisha Rahaman Sarkar 16 July 2023 07:00 1689484534 Disgruntled tourists bemoaned the temporary closing of the Acropolis in Athens as Greek authorities proactively shut the world monument’s gates between midday and early evening. Red Cross staff handed out bottled water to tourists wilting in long lines hoping to beat the closure and scale the steps up to the gleaming Parthenon temple as temperatures were expected to peak above 40C. Some visitors were frustrated at being left in the lurch because they were unaware of Greek authorities’ last-minute announcement of the Acropolis’ closure. One visitor said he was disappointed as his cruise ship would depart later in the day. ‘I even bought a €50 ticket to skip the line to enter and I couldn’t enter the place,’ Hector from Mexico told The Associated Press. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar 16 July 2023 06:15 1689482734 Southern Europe will suffer from an intense bout of heatwave next week as well, as Italy, Spain and Greece continue to experience high temperatures. ‘Temperatures will reach a peak between 19 and 23 July – not only in Italy but also in Greece, Turkey and the Balkans,’ Italian meteorologist and climate expert Giulio Betti told the BBC. ‘Several local heat records within these areas may well be broken during those days.’ The Italian government has issued red alerts in 16 cities and advised anyone in the areas to avoid direct sunlight between 11am and 6pm. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar 16 July 2023 05:45 1689479528 Nearly half of EU is suffering from a ‘severe’ drought, the bloc’s official body has warned amid an ongoing heatwave that is predicted to push temperatures in Italy to 49C. According to the European Drought Observatory (EDO), at least 42 per cent of land across the 27 member countries are under amber warning, which means the ground has dried due to lack of rain. A new drought is building up around the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia, the UK, Ireland, and Germany, causing concerns about crop production, it said. The agency only classifies Devon, Cornwall and parts of East Anglia in drought for the UK. About 4 per cent of EU land is on red alert for drought, where crops and plants are suffering. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar 16 July 2023 04:52 1689467446 Over in the US, a third of the population was under heat alerts on Friday as the merciless conditions continued to topple hundreds of temperature records from coast to coast. In the west, Death Valley National Park could set a new world record for the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded while in Arizona, emergency responders were treating people for second-degree contact burns caused by sidewalks which have surpassed 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71C). The intensifying heatwave across the southern US was mirrored around the world as millions of people in Europe, Asia and Africa contended with extreme, record-breaking temperatures driven by the climate crisis. Click below for full story: Emergency responders treating people for burns caused by sidewalks which have surpassed 160 degrees Fahrenheit (71C) in Arizona Nick Ferris 16 July 2023 01:30 1689465646 The Met Office has predicted that unsettled weather conditions are to continue in the UK for the next few days – as the Mediterranean region grapples with soaring heat that could touch a new European record as soon as this week. Dr Melissa Lazenby, a climate change lecturer at the University of Sussex, explained earlier that the current placement of a high-pressure system located further south is the primary reason for this divergence. ‘The current European Heatwave is being driven by stable atmospheric conditions from a stationary high pressures feature,’ Dr Lazenby explained. She added that while it is not possible to determine all the drivers and their exact contributions to the current heatwave yet, Europe is not ‘particularly affected by El Niño events directly’. ‘Therefore it is likely the high-pressure system and climate change are the main contributors to this heatwave event,’ she said. The current heat wave is concentrated in Southern Europe ‘The UK at the moment is not experiencing the same high temperatures as the rest of Europe and that is mainly due to the placement of the current high-pressure system, which does not cover the UK and is situated further south,’ Dr Lazenby said, ‘which provides stable atmospheric conditions for enhanced warming and resulting heatwaves’. ‘If you are in the UK today, you will notice the higher winds which are not associated with a high-pressure feature and therefore not allowing conducive heatwave conditions explaining why UK temperatures are not anomalously warm like the rest of Europe.’ Nick Ferris 16 July 2023 01:00 1689463846 Climate change is most likely the cause of a blistering heatwave gripping Europe, a meteorologist has said, Chris England, a Sky News meteorologist, told the network: ‘Both southern Europe and the southern USA are experiencing extreme and potentially record-breaking heat at the moment. ‘The immediate causes in both cases are long-lasting and fairly stationary high-pressure systems that are bringing hot air in and then heating it further through the actions of the sun and by compressing the air – a so-called heat-dome. A heat map showing how Spain is currently gripped by extreme heat ‘Climate change would seem to be the most likely root cause of the excessive heat, although that will take time to verify. ‘We are in an El Nino year, but that doesn’t seem advanced enough to bring significant global issues yet.’ Nick Ferris 16 July 2023 00:30 Switzerland Germany France Weather Spain Italy Heat heatwave temperatures Greece Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in