The water temperature on the coasts of Spain reached a record high for this time, reported the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), which keeps part of the country on alert for the heat wave.
According to Aemet readings in the Spanish coastal areas, the sea temperature reached an average of 24.6 °C in mid-July, some 2.2 degrees higher than normal for the season.
The figure “far exceeds the records of the two previously warmest years”, 2015 (24 °C) and 2022 (23.7 °C) and is “unprecedented for mid-July in the entire historical series” that began in 1940, indicated Aemet on Twitter.
This situation, in a context of global warming of the oceans, is even more worrisome since summer is far from over, according to an Aemet spokesman, Rubén del Campo.
“There is still a way for the sea to continue to warm up more”, both in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, said the spokesman, who specified that temperatures above 28ºC have been registered in the southeastern tip of the peninsula in the Mediterranean.
Spain has suffered a heat wave since the beginning of the week, the third of the summer, caused by the anticyclone Charon in the west of the Mediterranean basin.
On Wednesday, several southern and southeastern provinces were on red alert and temperatures exceeded 44 °C in the municipality of Alhama (Murcia) and 43 °C in other areas of the provinces of Murcia, Málaga and Cádiz, according to Aemet. .
The meteorology agency, however, lowered the alert level for Thursday, with only two provinces of Murcia on orange alert.
On Tuesday, the thermometers marked 45.4 °C in Figueres, Catalonia, an absolute record for the northeastern region of Spain, according to Aemet.
In almost all of Spain, except for areas in the north, there is a “very high” or “extreme” risk of forest fires, he warned.
On the island of La Palma, in the Atlantic archipelago of the Canary Islands, a forest fire burned nearly 2,900 hectares, according to the latest estimates. The flames, which forced the temporary evacuation of 4,000 people, continue to burn, although the fire has been “stabilized” since midday, according to the authorities.
Due to “a worsening of air quality” due to the smoke from the fire, the authorities asked the inhabitants of the surrounding towns to “reduce their outdoor activities” and wear a mask.
Archaeological sites closed in Greece
The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called on Thursday for “absolute vigilance” in the face of the new heat wave that is hitting his country, with temperatures expected to reach 45 °C this weekend.
Faced with the new heat wave, the authorities announced that all archaeological sites will be closed during the hottest hours of the day.
“We need absolute vigilance (…) because the difficult times are not behind us yet,” warned Mitsotakis. “We are facing a new heat wave” and “a possible strengthening of the winds” that have already fueled several fires around Athens since Monday, he added.
The archaeological sites closed their doors at noon and will reopen at 5:30 p.m., except for the Acropolis, which due to a strike by security guards will not receive visitors until 8:00 p.m.
The measure will apply until Sunday.
Red Cross employees distributed bottles of water to visitors near the monument, the most visited in the country, when temperatures touched 38 °C this Thursday at noon in the capital.
After a first heat wave last week, the thermometers will rise again to 43 °C on Thursday and up to 45 °C over the weekend in the center of the country.
“What worries us is that the forecasts indicate a new increase in temperatures next week. It would be a heat wave of more than fifteen days, that is, the longest in the history of Greece,” said Kostas Lagouvardos, from the institute. for environmental research of the National Observatory of Athens.
In the center of the capital, the inhabitants tried to maintain their occupations despite the heat.
“I am used to high temperatures. We have them every summer, but what is difficult this year is that heat waves keep happening,” said Christos Boyiatzis, a shoeshine boy from Kolonaki, a business district of Athens.
Kostas Leventouris, a newspaper vendor, decided to close his kiosk earlier “due to the heat”.
Instead, the situation improved in terms of forest fires that burned thousands of hectares in recent days. Hundreds of firefighters were still fighting some still active pockets west of Athens.
“Firefighters fought 200 fires in three days, in extreme weather conditions,” Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias told Skai radio.
The risk of fires remains high for Attica – the peripheral region to the capital – the Peloponnese peninsula (southwest) and central Greece, according to the Civil Protection.
On the tourist island of Rhodes, where a forest fire broke out two days ago, five planes and five helicopters were still fighting the flames.
