Italians warned to avoid direct sunlight as Europe braces for temperatures up to 49°C
Sixteen cities across Italy have been issued with red weather alerts as much of southern Europe continues to experience an extreme heatwave that could result in the highest-ever recorded temperatures in the region.
Bologna, Florence and Rome are among the cities covered by the alert, which means even healthy people are at risk in the heat.
The Italian authorities have warned anyone in the areas covered by the alerts to avoid direct sunlight between 11am and 6pm.
Italy, Greece and Spain are among the countries facing record temperatures as much of the Mediterranean is gripped by the Cerberus heatwave.
The extreme weather is forecast to hit the region for around two weeks, with temperatures up to 49°C forecast in Sicily and Sardinia, which would be the hottest ever recorded in Europe.
Temperatures have already hit 40°C or more in Greece in recent days, with The Acropolis in Athens being forced to close at points on Friday and Saturday to protect tourists.
Over 50 forest fires were recorded in a 24-hour period in the country, Greece’s fire department said, but most were tackled quickly.
It is feared that the extreme temperatures could lead to more devastating wildfires, such as the ones that devastated the country during another heatwave in 2021.
The current heatwave is being driven in large part by an area of high pressure trapped over the southern Mediterranean.
Temperatures remain much lower in the UK as the southern shift of the jet stream that has pushed the high pressure southwards across this region has also led to low-pressure systems being directed into the UK, according to meteorologists.
Rebekah Sherwin, an expert meteorologist from the Met Office’s global forecasting team, said the shift of the jet stream south has brought “more unsettled and cooler weather here than we experienced in June when the jet stream was at a more northerly latitude”.
Parts of the US are also in the grip of an extreme heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 43.3°C in Phoenix, Arizona for the past 15 days in a row, while Las Vegas also looks set to break its all-time record high of 47°C.
Extreme heatwaves are becoming more frequent across the globe as a result of climate change.
Professor Peter Stott, Met Office climate attribution scientist, said: “Climate change has resulted in increased severity and frequency of extreme temperatures recorded across Europe.
“We have seen the highest temperature on record for Europe of 48.8°C at Syracuse, Sicily just two years ago in 2021 during a summer whose temperatures would have been virtually impossible without human induced climate change.”
