Europe’s heat wave is spreading, with wildfires raging on a Spanish island and people in southeast France told to stay indoors for most of the day.
(Bloomberg) — Europe’s heat wave is spreading, with wildfires raging on a Spanish island and people in southeast France told to stay indoors for most of the day.
Above-normal temperatures are forecast across the continent this week, with the hottest conditions seen at the end of the weekend, according to forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc. Such extreme weather is becoming more frequent from the US to China, bringing fires, floods and violent storms as climate change increases the intensity of heat waves. That comes after the world’s hottest ever month in July.
On Tenerife in Spain’s Canary islands, 150 firefighters and 50 military personnel battled a wildfire that prompted the evacuation of five villages and could could take more than a day to bring under control. The outbreak comes weeks after the neighboring island of La Palma was hit by blazes that forced more than 4,000 residents from their homes.
In France, rising temperatures prompted an orange warning for Lyon and Grenoble by Europe’s network of national meteorological services, which told people in those areas that “everyone is in danger, even those in good health” and warned them not to go out between 11am and 9pm. French nuclear production is also likely to be curbed from Saturday because of cooling water restrictions.
Over the next few days, southern and central France will reach 5C to 9C (9F to 16F) above normal, according to Maxar. Marseille will hit 35C on Saturday with the mercury not dropping below 30.5C for more than a week, the forecaster said in a daily report. Paris is also poised to get hotter early next week.
Read more: EDF Likely to Curb Nuclear Output From Saturday Amid Hot Weather
In Germany, where the heat wave has caused panic as the nation isn’t equipped for such hot conditions, temperatures in Frankfurt will peak at 31.5C on Tuesday, with a few degrees below that through this week.
Further south, a sub-Saharan anti-cyclone is ramping up the heat in Italy, with temperatures set to peak at 42C in Sardinia and 38C in Rome, Florence and most of the Po Valley, according to Italy’s Il Meteo.
The latest place to enjoy some heat after a prolonged period of cold and wet weather is Amsterdam, where temperatures will fluctuate from 2 to 4C above the norm, reaching 26.5C on Friday, according to Maxar.
(Updates with Tenerife wildfires in first, third paragraphs, comment from Maxar in second.)
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