BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Extreme and persistent heat in Spain and Portugal, devastating drought in Italy, massive fires in southern France: In contrast, the situation in Germany was more relaxed on Wednesday with a maximum of midsummer 34 degrees. In view of reports of a possible new heat wave, the German Weather Service (DWD) warned of scaremongering in this country.
Spain in particular is currently being hit by scorching heat. It should be particularly hot on Wednesday with temperatures of up to 44 degrees in Andalusia in the south and in Extremadura in the west of the country. In combination with a drought that has lasted for weeks and strong winds, the heat is promoting the outbreak and spread of forest fires. The current worst fire continued to rage in the community of Las Hurdes near the border with Portugal.
In neighboring Portugal, the fire brigade and civil defense also fought forest fires at times well above 40 degrees, especially in the center of the country. Further northeast, emergency services on the French Atlantic coast brought 6,000 people to safety from the spreading flames, according to the Gironde prefecture. On Wednesday morning, five campsites near Teste-de-Buch, south of the city of Bordeaux, were evacuated as a precaution. Temperatures of 37 degrees were expected in the area.
A forest fire broke out on the Greek holiday island of Samos on Wednesday, which could not be contained by the afternoon. For Thursday, the fire brigade issued the second highest warning level for a number of islands in the East Aegean, but also for the Attica region around Athens and the large islands of Euboea and Crete. There is a “very high risk of forest fires,” it said. The day before, 35 forest fires were registered across the country within 24 hours.
Forest fires also broke out again in Turkey. According to a spokesman for the responsible province of Mugla, several houses were also evacuated in the event of a fire on the Datca peninsula, which is popular with holidaymakers. A fire also broke out in the western province of Izmir, the responsible forest office said.
The Italian fire brigade in the Tuscan province of Massa Carrara on the border with Liguria was fighting flames on a hard-to-reach hill on Wednesday, the Tuscan authorities said. The fire brigade in South Tyrol was also busy extinguishing a forest fire in Bozen on Wednesday. There is no relief in sight: holidaymakers and residents must expect another great summer heat for the coming weekend.
“Temperatures will rise in the coming days, and that will also be the beginning of a new heat wave in our country,” said meteorologist Guido Guidi of the German Press Agency on Wednesday. As early as Friday, temperatures in the plain along the Po River in northern Italy would rise to 36 to 40 degrees Celsius. Among other things, Tuscany, Lazio surrounding the capital Rome, eastern Sicily and Sardinia are also affected.
In contrast to the extreme heat in southern Europe, the temperature in parts of Germany rose to a midsummer but comparatively comfortable 34 degrees on Wednesday. With the exception of the coastal region, people expected a warm to hot summer day with 25 to 31 degrees almost everywhere else.
The prospects for the coming days also remain summery. Sun and clouds are likely to alternate on Thursday, but according to the DWD it will mostly remain dry and warm. With temperatures between 22 and 28 degrees, it cools down only slightly, in the south and southwest it could even get hot up to 35 degrees. Thunderstorms are not excluded, especially in the mountains.
In view of the reports of a heat wave with temperatures around 40 degrees, the DWD warned against scaremongering. At least the weather forecast for the next seven days gives no indication that the 40-degree mark will be reached and that previous temperature records could shake, said a DWD spokesman.
Meanwhile, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke emphasized the need for better preparation for heat and drought in Germany. “In the meantime, due to the consequences of the climate crisis, so many really hot days have arrived in Germany that this poses a threat to nature and also to us humans,” said the Greens politician on Deutschlandfunk on Wednesday. Lemke wants to present a national water strategy by the end of the year.
An example from the south-west illustrates how far-reaching the drought is in Germany: Low water levels prevail in numerous small and medium-sized bodies of water in Baden-Württemberg. According to the Baden-Württemberg State Institute for the Environment (LUBW), around 60 percent of the gauges in the southwest are below the lowest water level in an average year. In some places, river and stream beds have even dried up. The reason: From January to June, only around 80 percent of the precipitation that is usual in the long-term average for this period fell in Baden-Württemberg, as the LUBW explained. In addition, it was warmer than average./sik/DP/stk