Greece in emergency weather measures as map shows deadly ‘Cerberus’ heat

Jump to content Sign up to our newsletters Subscribe News Sport Voices Culture Lifestyle Travel Premium News World Europe William Mata Thursday 13 July 2023 19:24 Comments Close Europeans seek shade as heatwave grips much of the continent Greece has introduced emergency measures to help workers cope with temperatures of more than 40C as the Cerberus heatwave grips Europe . The country has introduced the mandatory stoppage of work where there is heat stress from 12-5pm and high risk members of the public service will work from home. Temperatures in Greece could top 44C in the days to come while already in Spain the ground temperature has reached 60C. Greece has also warned of the threat of wild fires with the wind forecast to pick up. A heat map for Europe has turned to dark red and even black in areas because of the severity of the extreme weather . Forecasters have said the heatwave could last for up to two weeks and already one person has died as a result. The 44-year-old worker was reportedly painting a zebra crossing in 40C heat in the town of Lodi outside Milan, Italy , at midday on Tuesday when he collapsed. There is also extreme heat in the US, and you can follow the blog for that here . 1689267330 As temperatures are expected to reach 48C on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, the European Space Agency has released a map depicting the land surface temperature across Europe. On 10 July, temperatures hit 42C in Milan, 46C in Rome and Madrid and highs of 47C in Seville, characterised by the sea of red sweeping the continent. Following last year’s summer heatwave across Europe, more than 60,000 people died, with Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal experiencing the highest mortality rates. This summer, The Red Cross has urged locals and tourists alike to be cautious and look out for those who are most vulnerable. ‘Climate warming amplified this year by El Niño severely affects food production, water availability as well as our health. To properly adapt to these changes we need timely information at actionable resolution which the Copernicus programme is providing with Sentinel-3 and soon with the Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring mission at 50 m resolution,’ Benjamin Koetz, Mission Scientist of the Land Surface Temperature Monitoring mission, explained. Map released by European Space Agency shows land surface temperature across Europe on 10 July 2023 Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 17:55 1689271236 Reuters photographers have put together a montage of people taking care and cooling down in 40C weather in Italy. William Mata 13 July 2023 19:00 1689270650 Parts of California were warned to prepare for searing temperatures – the hottest of the year so far, NWS reported. The most at-risk regions are California’s Central Valley, the Mojave and Sonoran desert regions, and southern California, Nevada, and Arizona including the cities of Las Vegas, Phoenix, Bakersfield and Fresno. Midday highs were mostly expected to be above 100F (37.7 C), and desert areas could reach 120F (48.8 C), forecasters said. ‘The heat will be extremely dangerous and potentially deadly due to the intensity, longevity, and a relatively cool start to summer that may have limited the ability for people to acclimate to more typical hot summer weather in this region,’ forecasters said. ‘Please plan accordingly, this is not the time to be hiking or be outside for long durations,’ NWS’ LA office tweeted. ‘If you need to work outside, shift hours to the early morning, take frequent breaks and hydrate!’ In California, the state reminded employers of health and safety regulations that mean outdoor workers are given water, shade and regular breaks to cool off. There are few protections for outdoor workers in other parts of the south including Texas. The extreme heat and dry conditions were also increasing the wildfire risk in the Golden State with fire agency, Cal Fire, reporting a number of blazes have ignited since the beginning of July. Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 18:50 1689270350 The climate crisis , driven by burning of fossil fuels, is making long-lasting, dangerous heat five times more likely in places like Texas, Arizona , and Mexico, according to analysis from Climate Central . The mercury has hit 110F (43.3C) in Phoenix, Arizona for 13 days in a row as officials advised residents to limit outdoor activities, and be alert to signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The risks of heat-related illness rise when the temperature surpasses 90F. The city has opened a ‘heat relief network’ to allow those without air conditioning to cool off at places like public libraries. An intense heatwave is also building further west, and is likely to see temperature records topple this weekend, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Heat alerts were in place across much of the southern and western US on Thursday Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 18:45 1689269750 More than 113 million Americans were under heat alerts on Thursday as stifling, life-threatening temperatures dug in across large parts of the country. In the south and southeast, relentless, hazardous heat is expected to continue for at least another week after constant triple-digit temperatures in the past month. A wide area will experience temperatures of 110 degrees Fahreheit (43.3 Celsius), from a combination of heat and humidity, the National Weather Service reported. Louise Boyle has the full story: Relentless, hazardous heat is expected to continue for at least another week across parts of the south Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 18:35 1689269436 After a historically wet winter and a cloudy spring, California’s summer was in full swing on Thursday as a heat wave that’s been scorching much of the US south west brings triple digit temperatures and an increased risk of wildfires. Blistering conditions will build Friday and throughout the weekend in the central and southern parts of California, where many residents should prepare for the hottest weather of the year, the National Weather Service warned. Midday highs were mostly expected to be above 37.7C, and desert areas could reach 48.8C, forecasters said. 1689268226 In a viral video posted to TikTok, a postal service worker gave insight into the difficulties of delivery driving during rising temperatures. As @ThatPostalDad made his usual delivery run in 102F weather, he opened a person’s mailbox to find a cold water bottle waiting to be taken. The postal worker immediately grabbed the water bottle and poured the entire bottle on his head to cool off. ‘When it’s 102F outside and someone leaves an ice cold bottle of water in their mailbox,’ he wrote over the post. More than 100 million Americans have been affected by heatwave across southwestern US Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 18:10 1689267636 Reuters reports that a prolonged heat wave blanketed a swath of the US stretching from California to South Florida, with forecasters expecting temperatures that could shatter records in parts of the Southwest in the coming days. This video shows the reality for Americans living through it. William Mata 13 July 2023 18:00 1689267026 Meanwhile, Iraq is in the grip of a severe water shortage which has left crop growers and food producers such as Iraqi fish farmer Qasem Karam facing the loss of their livelihoods. Walking over dusty land in the sweltering midday heat in the southern province of Basra, Karam points to his dried up carp ponds, once irrigated by the Shatt al-Arab river. ‘Everything is full of salt now because of water scarcity and pollution,’ he said, pointing at white patches of salt crust nearby. ‘These ponds cost us a lot of time, money and effort. We had an economic plan, but it is all destroyed.’ Upstream damming in Turkey and Iran has hit waterflows on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which form the Shatt al-Arab river, plus dumping of wastewater and poor rainfall due to climate change have led to a drastic reduction in fish farming, experts and officials said. Lower water levels have also increased evaporation and made the water more saline. Karam and three other fish farmers Reuters spoke with said the loss of suitable water was driving them out of a once thriving and profitable business. According to an official at Basra’s agriculture directorate, Abbas Dakheel, only four authorised fish farms continued to work this year, as opposed to 15 in 2020. ‘This water is green, dirty and polluted. No fish can live in this water,’ said Karam, kneeling down next to a pipe irrigating his pond. He said that his fish were now either sick, failing to grow or dead as a result. Jumaa Shia, head of Basra’s directorate of water resources, said the city of 1.3 million needs to share its decreasing water resources among domestic users, agriculture, the oil industry and electricity generation. To save water, authorities have taken measures including closing down some 95 unauthorised fish farms in Basra. Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 17:50 1689266426 A wildlife recovery centre in central Spain is sparing no effort to nurse the many bird offspring afflicted by the blistering summer heat back to health so they can be re-released into the wild. Heat waves have become more frequent in Spain in recent years, part of a global pattern of rising temperatures widely attributed by scientists to human activity. Young common swifts, black redstarts, common kestrels and imperial eagles are habitual patients at Madrid’s regional Centre for the Recovery of Wild Animals (CRAS) during summertime, as they’re particularly vulnerable to the scorching temperatures that can top 40C (104 Fahrenheit). ‘Swifts are the ‘stars’ of the summer because they’re the ones that come in the most,’ CRAS director and veterinary chief, Silvia Villaverde, told Reuters, adding they had exceeded the 1,400-swifts mark so far this year. Their chicks are complex to care for, as they require constant individual feeding with a diet made up exclusively of insects, which places a large burden in terms of time, resources and staff on the centre, she said. They are often brought in by hikers who find them lying on the ground after they’ve either jumped out of their nests or been pushed out by their siblings due to the harrowing heat. CRAS also receives many kestrels that have just fledged but are still incapable of securing food on their own or have crash-landed in places inaccessible to their parents, said forestry engineer Alejandro Martinez. ‘After a day or two without food, with these high temperatures, they dehydrate very easily,’ he added. To reintroduce the assorted birds back into the wild, CRAS uses a ‘fostering’ technique in which the chicks are placed in other nests and adopted by new parents who teach them proper behaviour, including how to fly or hunt. Eleanor Noyce 13 July 2023 17:40 Switzerland Germany France Weather Spain Italy Heat heatwave 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