The current heat wave that arrived from the Maghreb via the Iberian Peninsula is not just overwhelming the French.
Our neighbors are also suffering from the consequences of this extreme and early heat wave which has been hitting southern and central Europe for several days.
We take stock.
In Spain, 25,000 ha went up in smoke
The first country to have taken the full brunt of the heat wave, Spain is beginning to breathe.
Temperatures are slowly dropping.
The mercury only reached 29°C in Madrid on Sunday and 25°C in the province of Zamora, in the northwest of the country.
But the emergency services continued to fight this Sunday against several fires, and the provisional assessment of this heat wave is already terrible: the most important forest fire in the country destroyed more than 25,000 ha in the Sierra de la Culebra, a mountain range from the Castile and Leon region, near the border with Portugal, according to regional authorities.
Several hundred inhabitants of villages threatened by the flames had to leave their homes.
They were able to return home on Sunday morning.
Elsewhere, the situation is not as favorable: Spanish firefighters continue to fight several fires in Catalonia and Navarre.
In Germany, the wind facilitates the spread of fires
The heat wave does not spare Germany either.
In the North, the worst of the heat wave is over, but the rest of the country "continues to sweat", says DWD, the German "Météo France".
Maximum temperatures on Saturday were between “30 and 37°C”.
On Sunday, the German weather forecasting organization predicted peaks between "30 and 38 ° C".
Consequences of high heat, fires spread all over Germany.
On Friday, a fire broke out in Brandenburg, a wooded and rural region near Berlin.
Since then, the flames have ravaged nearly 100 ha.
So much so that neighborhoods of Treuenbrietzen had to be evacuated this Sunday, “about 700 people” out of the 8,000 inhabitants of the city, reports a spokesperson for the district of Potsdam-Mittelmark.
Another fire in the Trecktal valley, southwest of Berlin, is under control after burning 6.5 ha of forest.
But drought and high ground temperatures could revive it at any moment.
Finally near Potsdam, a fire ravaged at least 40 ha of forest.
The drought has also caused an unusual drop in the level of several lakes and rivers in the country, reports the German newspaper Bild.
As in France, gusts of wind cooled the coasts, and the atmosphere became heavy and stormy everywhere in Germany on Sunday afternoon.
For firefighters, this is not necessarily good news: the wind only accelerates the spread of fires, and makes the work of the rescue forces difficult, according to the authorities.
In Italy, drought threatens harvests
In Italy, the heat wave is worsening a drought that was already worrying the authorities.
Several towns in northern Italy have announced water rationing and the Lombardy region could declare a state of emergency.
Because the Po Valley, which has not seen a drop of rain for months, threatens the harvest of barley, cereals, hazelnuts, grapes and rice.
The country's longest river is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years, leaving many sections of the northern waterway completely dry.
Large swaths of the riverbed are now visible, so much so that a German tank from World War II has resurfaced.
Europe's #heatwave his Italy's Po valley hardest with several months without rain and abnormal halt in flows from melting snow, with serious consequences for food security: Forage, barley and grain crops down 30% to 40%, hazelnut, grapes, rice threatenedhttps:/ /t.co/oaUpChGP7W pic.twitter.com/tA28uEOY72
— Assaad Razzouk (@AssaadRazzouk) June 18, 2022
During this heat wave, Italy suffocated.
Copernicus, the EU's Earth observation space program, identified a peak of 51°C
(ground surface temperature, not air)
in Sardinia on Saturday.
"Europe continues to be in the grip of an intense heat wave", writes Copernicus on its Twitter account.
Europe continues to be under the grip of an intense #heatwave♨️
On 18 June, the Land Surface Temperature (LST) 🥵 reached peaks of
▶️49°C 🌡️ in SE #France 🇫🇷 and in NE #Spain 🇪🇸
▶️51°C 🌡️ in #Italy 🇮🇹 (Sardinia)#Copernicus #Sentinel3 🇪🇺🛰️data
NB: LST is not air Temperature pic.twitter.com/1ZvTViK0jF
— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) June 19, 2022
Among the multiple consequences of the heat wave, the milk production of cows fell by 10% in Italy.
The heat forces cattle to drink up to 140 liters of water a day, twice as much as usual, the country's main agricultural association, Coldiretti, said on Saturday.
In Switzerland, a heat wave until Tuesday
Among our Swiss neighbors, the peak of the heat wave was expected this Sunday.
"After the first monthly heat records recorded on Saturday, temperatures will rise a few more degrees today", indicated Météo Suisse.
Around 1 p.m., the temperatures were already between 32 and 34 ° C, or 1 to 4 ° C more than the day before at the same time.
And Geneva reached the 35°C mark.
Three cities broke their record, including Neuchâtel, in the west of the country, with 34.7°C, the previous record being 34.1°C in 2019.
The temperatures were very high today.
Three #records were broken for the month of June: in Neuchâtel with 34.7°C, in Fahy with 34.1°C and in Salen-Reutenen (near Lake Constance) with 32.0°C.
In Delémont the previous record (35°C) was equaled.
#weather #climate pic.twitter.com/RAATMln7sq
— MeteoSwiss (@meteosuisse) June 18, 2022
After this heat peak reached on Sunday, temperatures will drop slightly but will remain at a scorching level on Monday and Tuesday.
