Fire-ravaged Greece braces for more heat as rest of Europe cools

Greek authorities evacuated part of the central city of Lamia on Wednesday as high winds and heat increased the threat posed by wildfires across the country.

Residents in the north of the city of 52,000 people were told to move south as a blaze endangered homes. As temperatures in Greece on Wednesday climbed toward 47 degrees, the situation on the islands of Rhodes and Corfu was also deteriorating, forcing more residents to flee as coastguard vessels stood by for beach rescues.

While other parts of the Mediterranean have cooled, Greek firefighters were using planes and helicopters to battle 146 wildfires. The highest risk has switched to the Greek mainland, including the area around Athens. The situation on Evia, where two pilots died on Tuesday while dropping water on the flames, has improved.

As southern Europe’s latest heatwave draws to a close, extreme temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere are ringing alarm bells about the pace of climate change. The warnings are also coming further south, with Antarctic sea ice struggling to grow back after hitting an all-time low in February.

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While scientists say the extreme heat in Europe and North America would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, many leaders are pushing back against efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels that generate climate-warming greenhouse gases. The relief from cooler temperatures in southern Europe is likely to be short-lived, with heat building again over Spain toward the end of next week.

In the meantime, Greece faced another tortuous day. Greek labour Mminister Adonis Georgiadis prohibited outside work in areas where the temperature rose to 40 degrees or above from midday to 5pm. Delivery services that ignore those rules face heavy fines.

In Athens, the Acropolis was shut for tourists at 11am., before reopening at 5.30pm. The heat across Greece is expected to ease from Thursday, with temperatures dropping by as much as eight degrees.

However, the fire risks will remain. Seven of the country’s 13 regions will be at the highest fire alert level on Thursday, compared with five on Wednesday, as winds strengthen to as high as 61 hm/h. Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki, and its surrounding area, which are usually cooler than Athens, is one of the places at maximum risk.

Almost 500 firefighters and seven planes have been dispatched by European Union nations to help quell the fires in Greece.

Emissions in July from the wildfires in Greece were the highest in at least two decades, according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. More than 35,000 hectares of forest have been burnt across the country over the past week, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Fires across Greece have led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists over the past four days, threatening the livelihoods of locals who depend on summer visitors.

Strong winds are hampering efforts to contain wildfires burning across the Mediterranean from Algeria to Turkey, after record heat this month.

Temperatures in Italy are set to cool slightly in the coming days. Sardinia is forecast to remain below 40 degrees until Friday, after the island hit 48 degrees on Monday, just below the European high of 48.8 degrees, set in Sicily two years ago.

In some areas, the heat has been punctuated by violent storms with destructive hail. The European record for the largest hailstone was broken on Monday when a 19cm-diameter stone was confirmed in northern Italy by the European Severe Weather Database. That was just shy of the world record of 20.3cm set in South Dakota in 2010.

Cooler weather that has dominated across northern Europe is extending southward, before temperatures in the Mediterranean get closer to seasonal norms in the coming days. The UK, Germany, France and Nordic countries will remain cooler than average. Oslo will peak at 17.5 degrees, five below the norm, according to forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc. – Bloomberg