‘Unprecedented’ alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

A record number of thermal alerts are in place across France as a country, and other parts of southern and east Europe, remain under the arrow temperatures.

Some 84 of the 96 of the regions of the continent of France – known as departments – are currently under an orange alert – the second highest in the country. French climate minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher described this as “unprecedented” situation.

Thermal warnings are also in place for certain parts of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the countries of the United Kingdom and the Balkans, including Croatia.

Spain and Portugal both had their hottest days in June never recorded on weekends.

El Granado in Andalucía saw a temperature of 46c on Saturday, while 46.6c was recorded in the city of Mora in the center of Portugal on Sunday.

Many countries have emergency medical services in standby and warn people to stay inside as much as possible.

Nearly 200 schools across France have been closed or partially closed as a result of the heat wave, which has seized parts of Europe for more than a week, but should peak in the middle of the week.

The Minister of Education, Elisabeth Borne, said that she was working with regional authorities on the best ways to take care of schoolchildren or allow parents who can keep their children at home.

On Sunday, several forest fires broke out in the mountain range in the south of Corbières, leading to evacuations and the closure of a highway. Since then, they have been contained, the French media told the French media said on Monday.

Meanwhile, 21 Italian cities are also on the highest alert – including Rome, Milan and Venice, just like Sardinia.

Mario Guarino, vice-president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, told AFP’s news agency that hospital emergency services across the country had reported a 10% increase in heat strokes.

United Kingdom parts could see one of the hottest days of all time Monday, with temperatures of 34 ° C or more possible in certain parts of England.

A large part of Spain, which is underway to record its hottest June ever recorded, also continues to be on thermal alert.

“I cannot sleep well and have insomnia. I also get heat strokes, I stop eating and I can’t focus,” Anabel Sanchez, 21, in Reuters News Agency told Seville.

This is a situation similar to Portugal, where seven districts, whose capital, Lisbon, are at the highest alert.

Meanwhile, the German weather service warned that temperatures could reach almost 38 ° C Tuesday and Wednesday – more potential record temperatures.

The countries in and around the Balkans also fought with intense heat, although the temperatures started to cool slightly.

In Türkiye, firefighters are continuing their efforts to put out hundreds of forest fires that have broken out in recent days.

A fire in the Seferihisar district, 50 km (30 miles) in the southwest of the Izmir resort, is powered by winds and has already destroyed around 20 houses and certain residential areas have had to be evacuated.

Forest fires also broke out in Croatia, where serious heat warnings are in place for coastal areas.

Temperatures in Greece have approached 40C for several days and coastal cities near the capital Athens Last week broke out in flames that destroyed houses – forcing people to evacuate.

Wednesday, Serbia reported its hottest day since the record starts, while a record of 38.8 ° C was recorded in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday. In Slovenia, the hottest June temperature was recorded on Saturday.

The temperature in the capital of northern Macedonia, Skopje, reached 42c on Friday – and should continue in this beach.

Although the heat wave is a potential health problem, it also has an impact on the climate. Higher temperatures in the Adriatic Sea encourage invasive species such as toxic lion fish, while causing additional stress on alpine glaciers that are Already narrowing at record rates.

Although it is difficult to connect extreme extreme weather events to climate change, heat waves become more common and more intense due to climate change.