A new heat record is being measured in Sicily. The high value has yet to be confirmed.
Syracuse – Merciless record heat and countless forest fires are making people in the Mediterranean countries more and more troublesome. According to the regional authorities, a new heat record for Italy and even for all of Europe was measured in Sicily on Wednesday (August 11th, 2021) at 48.8 degrees Celsius, as reported by the Guardian, among others.
As the authorities in Sicily announced, the thermometer climbed to 48.8 degrees near Syracuse. This record value for Italy and all of Europe has yet to be checked and confirmed by the Italian weather service. If the check by the weather service were successful, the previous European heat record of 48 degrees (Athens, 1977) would be replaced.
Heat wave in Europe: New record measured in Sicily
The high “Lucifer” causing the heat wave is expected to move north in the coming days and bring temperatures of around 40 degrees to Tuscany and the Lazio region in central Italy on the weekend. For the fire brigade in Calabria and Sicily, the high temperatures of the weather are extremely bad news as the forest fires continue to rage. Scott Duncan, a Scottish meteorologist, tweeted: “The dangerous heat wave is spreading. The focus of the heat wave will continue to move west and north in the coming days. “
Serious forest fires also continued to rage in Greece. According to statistics from the AFP news agency, based on official information, almost 100,000 hectares of forest and arable land were burned within two weeks.
Weather in Europe: Severe forest fires are raging in Italy and Greece
On the particularly affected island of Euboea, however, slight hope grew: “I think we can say that the fire fronts are slowly being brought under control,” said the mayor of the city of Istiea, Giannis Kontzias, of the state television broadcaster ERT. “Yesterday we saw the sunlight for the first time in days,” he added, referring to the huge billows of smoke over Euboea. Many countries sent aid workers to Greece.
Tunisia and Algeria are also suffering from the heat wave. In northern Algeria, the fire brigade and army fought countless forest fires on Wednesday (11.08.2021), mostly in Kabylia, a heavily forested mountain region east of the capital Algiers. (marv / AFP)
Picture list: © Salvatore Cavalli / dpa
