Heavy rain against wildfires: The weather in the north and south of Europe is hardly distinguishable from each other. And yet – it can be even more extreme.

MUNICH – Europe’s north and south have been witnessing two distinct extremes of weather for weeks: in the north and the center of Europe, entire regions, cities and human life are being completely destroyed by heavy rains and storms. Clean-up work will continue for weeks, especially in the affected German areas. Not to mention the homes and livelihoods of those who could hardly be rebuilt so quickly.

But the past few months in the south of Europe haven’t been easy either: Spain has been battling a relentless heat wave and related wildfires near Barcelona have been around for weeks. On the Italian holiday island of Sardinia, wildfires have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and caused both citizens and holidaymakers to flee. Similar scenes occur in Turkey. Here too, there is a fierce fire in the forest for several days, in which several hundred people have been injured so far.

Now the next blow: record-breaking heat wave is heading towards southern Europe

According to the current weather forecast, the temperature in parts of southern Europe is likely to remain as high as 44 degrees in the coming days. The perceived temperature should then still be 50 degrees and higher. This heat can also be a problem for Southerners, who are otherwise used to high temperatures. Several heat waves have already killed many people over the past 20 years. According to meteorologists, this is partly due to the sirocco – a desert wind that blows hot and dry air from the south into the Mediterranean.

This warm air initially spreads to popular holiday destinations. Heat is expected over southern Italy, for example in the Adriatic Sea and Greece, until it reaches Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. Temperatures here are expected to rise to 44 degrees at the beginning of the coming week and then to 50 degrees during the week – a summer that should also be possible in Italy and Greece. This may break the European heat record of July 1977: the official temperature in Athens at that time was 48.0 °C.

Scorching heat in Europe: weather map now shows disturbing forecasts

The weather service “Kachelmanveter” now shares a photo of the disastrous forecasts on its Twitter page. The description says: “Yes, I have not yet seen such maps and can only hope for southern and southeastern Europe that it did not turn out like this”. According to the US model in the map that experts refer to here, the temperature in Italy is expected to be 50 degrees on August 8, 2021.

Extreme heat in Europe: A ray of hope remains

But there is a small glimmer of hope on the horizon. Because this extreme heat should only last for a week in affected areas, cool winds from the north should help. By then the extent to which the heat will enter the north of Europe and reach Croatia is not yet clear. Furthermore, one will always have to wait and see what these long-term forecasts actually hold. But one thing is certain: it will be red-hot.

RubriklistenBuild: © Arif Kaplan / DPA