Greece Shuts Acropolis, 2 Firefighters Killed In Italy As Southern Europe Swelters In A Heat Wave

A heat wave across southern Europe forced authorities in Greece to close the Acropolis Wednesday for several hours and two firefighters died while putting out a fire in the Basilicata region in southern Italy, Italian authorities said.

Italy added Palermo, Sicily, to the list of 13 cities in the country with a severe heat warning. Elderly people in the city of Verona were urged to stay indoors, while sprinklers were set up to cool passersby.

Greece’s Culture Ministry ordered the closure of the Acropolis — the country’s biggest cultural attraction — from midday for five hours.

Tourists hoping to visit the Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis queued early in the morning to beat the worst of the heat, while the Red Cross handed chilled bottled water and information fliers to those waiting in line.

“We got it done and got out quick, and now we’re going to some air conditions and some more libation and enjoy the day,” said Toby Dunlap, who was visiting from Pennsylvania and had just toured the Acropolis. “But it’s hot up there, it really is. If you don’t come prepared, you’re going to sweat.”

Meteorologists said the hot air from Africa was forecast to continue through Sunday, with heat wave temperatures expected to peak at 43 degrees C (109 F).

In Albania, the heat led the government to reschedule working hours for civil servants, making it easier for some to work from home. Neighboring North Macedonia struggled with dozens of wildfires that had broken out in the previous 24 hours. One major blaze stretched across nearly 30 kilometers (21 miles). Firefighting aircraft from Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania and Turkey responded to the country’s call for assistance.

In western Turkey, firefighters — aided by more than a dozen water-dropping aircraft — managed to bring a wildfire near the town of Bergama under control several hours after it ignited. The cause of the blaze, which was fanned by strong winds, was not immediately known.

The municipality of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul issued a heat warning on Tuesday, saying temperatures would rise between 3-6 degrees C (5.4-10.8 degrees F) above seasonal norms until July 28.

Several Spanish cities, including Granada and Toledo, are bracing for temperatures as high as 44 degrees C (111 F) forecast for later in the week in the country’s hottest spots in the south.

BY ELENA BECATOROS AND COLLEEN BARRY, AP

France In Midst Of 4th Heat Wave Amid Historic Drought

France was in the midst of its fourth heat wave of the year Monday as the country faces what the government warned is its worst drought on record.

Sunflowers suffer from lack of water, as Europe is under an unusually extreme heat wave, in Ury, 112 miles south of Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. France is this week going through its fourth heatwave of the year as the government warned last week that the country is faced with the most severe drought ever recorded. Some farmers have started to see a decrease in production especially in fields of soy, sunflowers and corn. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

National weather agency Meteo France said the heat wave began in the south and is expected to spread across the country and last until the weekend.

Overall, the southern half of France expects daytime temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) ad won’t drop at night below 20 C (68 F).

The high temperatures aren’t helping firefighters battling a wildfire in the Chartreuse Mountains near the Alps in eastern France, where authorities have evacuated around 140 people.

Meteo France said this week’s heat wave will not be as intense as the one last month, when several regions experienced record-breaking temperatures. But the high temperatures come during the most severe drought ever recorded, according to the government. Last month was the driest July since measurements began in 1959.

Some French farmers have started to see a drops in production especially in soy, sunflower and corn yields.

Water restrictions in place range from daytime irrigation bans to limiting water usage to people, livestock and to keep aquatic species alive.

The government said last week that more than 100 municipalities can’t provide drinking water through taps and need water truck supplies.

The heat also forced energy giant EDF to temporarily cut power generation at some of its nuclear plants, which use river water to cool reactors.

Europe Wilts Under Early Heat Wave From Med To North Sea

A blanket of hot air stretching from the Mediterranean to the North Sea is bringing much of Western Europe its first heat wave of the summer, with temperatures Friday exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) from London to Paris.

Meteorologists say the unusually early heat wave is a sign of what’s to come as global warming continues, moving up in the calendar the temperatures that Europe would previously have seen only in July and August.

“In some parts of Spain and France, temperatures are more than 10 degrees higher — that’s huge — than the average for this time of year,” Clare Nullis, a spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, said.

In France, some 18 million people woke to heat wave alerts affecting about a third of the country Friday. Forest fire warnings were issued from the Pyrenees in the south to the Paris region.

Tourists dunked their feet in fountains near the Eiffel Tower or sought relief in the Mediterranean.

France has introduced numerous measures to cope with extreme summer temperatures following a deadly heat wave in 2003 that killed about 15,000 people.

On Friday, schoolchildren were allowed to skip classes in the 12 western and southwestern French regions that were under the highest alert. The government stepped up efforts to ensure nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations could stay hydrated.

Temperatures in France have mounted all week and passed 39 C (102.2 F) in the southwest Friday. Nighttime temperatures are also unusually high, and the heat is stretching to normally cooler regions in Brittany and Normandy on the Atlantic Coast.

Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at national weather service Meteo France, told public broadcaster France-Info that temperatures are expected to break several records. He called the exceptionally early long stretch of hot weather a “marker of climate change.”

Britain recorded its hottest day of the year so far, with the temperature reaching 32.4C Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) at Heathrow Airport near London just after midday.

The heatwave prompted organizers of the Royal Ascot horse racing event to relax their famously strict dress code, with men allowed remove their jackets and ties once the traditional carriage procession by members of the royal family had ended.

In the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, people boarded trains to the nearest North Sea beach early Friday afternoon while others took to boats and stand-up paddle boards on one of the city’s historic ring of canals.

In Germany, where firefighters were tackling several wildfires including one south of the capital Berlin, the national weather service predicted that the big sweat would continue over the weekend, as the heat moves into central and Eastern Europe. It follows an unusually dry spring in Western Europe, with authorities ordering water to be rationed in northern Italy and parts of France and Germany.

Experts say climate change is already affecting rainfall patterns and evaporation rates across the region, with knock-on effects for agriculture, industry and wildlife.

“Heat waves are starting earlier,” said Nullis, from the U.N. weather agency. “They’re becoming more frequent and more severe because of concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which are at record level. What we’re witnessing today is, unfortunately, a foretaste of the future.”

She noted that extreme temperatures hit other parts of the globe in recent weeks. Nearly a third of Americans were under some form of heat advisory this week. During months of scorching temperatures, India and Pakistan saw the mercury scrape past 50 C (122 F) in some places.

By FRANK JORDANS
The current heat wave in Europe started almost a week ago in Spain, where temperatures reached 43 C (109.4F). Spanish authorities hope the weather will begin to cool again Sunday.

The intense temperatures and a lack of rain has helped fuel wildfires across Spain, taxing firefighting capacity.

The heat made itself felt also at a meeting in Madrid, where experts and policymakers gathered to discuss ways to tackle drought and the increasing spread of deserts across the globe.