ALERT: Europe- Health Warnings Due to Extreme Heat (August 4, 2017)

August 4, 2017

Health warnings have been issued across Europe due to excessive heat. Temperatures, in some countries, are exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

This map identifies the warnings:

Red = The weather is very dangerous.

Orange = The weather is dangerous.

Yellow = The weather is potentially dangerous.

According to the UK’s Guardian:

Eleven southern and central European countries have issued extreme heat warnings amid a brutal heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, with residents and tourists urged to take precautions and scientists warning worse could be to come.

Authorities in countries including Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia are on red alert, the European forecasters’ network Meteoalarm said, with swathes of southern Spain and France on amber.

The highest temperature on Thursday was 42C (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in Cordoba, Spain and Catania, Sicily. Split in Croatia also hit 42.3C on Wednesday. The spell is forecast to peak at the weekend with temperatures of 46C (114 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher in Italy and parts of the Balkans.

Italian authorities have placed 26 cities on the maximum extreme heat alert, including Venice and Rome where many fountains have been turned off as the country suffers its worst drought in 60 years. Rome only narrowly averted drastic water rationing last week.

In Florence, the Uffizi art galleries had to temporarily closed on Friday when the air conditioning system broke down. In Hungary, keepers at Budapest zoo had to coold down two overheating polar bears with huge ice blocks.

Temperatures along parts of Croatia’s Adriatic coast, including Dubrovnik, were expected to hit 42C during the day, while in the Serbian capital of Belgrade there were reports of people fainting from heat exhaustion.

Highs in Spain, including in popular holiday resorts on the Costa del Sol and Majorca, are set to reach 43C this weekend, with extreme conditions also forecast in Seville, Malaga and Granada. Ibiza and Mallorca could hit 42C, Spain’s Aemet meteorological service warned.

The BBC reports:

Parts of Europe are experiencing their most extreme heat in more than a decade as temperatures soar as high as 42C (107 degrees Fahrenheit).

Several countries have issued health warnings as this week’s record-breaking weather conditions continue to affect swathes of the continent.

Sweltering temperatures in Italy have sparked wildfires, and dozens of towns and cities are on the health ministry’s maximum heat alert.

Tourists and locals have been cooling off in cities across southern Europe by dousing themselves in water from public fountains and walking the streets under the shade of parasols.

High temperatures are expected in parts of central Europe and the Balkans in the coming days, according to Meteoalarm.

The heatwave is expected to last until at least Monday, with health warnings issued in 26 European cities.

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