“This is not normal”: a terrible heat attacked Europe

European countries continue to suffer from the hellish heat that has fallen on them. Italy, in particular, is struggling to survive with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. And looming anticyclone Caronte could push the thermometer up to 48°C as the Mediterranean heat intensifies.

The ferocious anticyclone, named after Cerberus, the three-headed dog monster that appears in Dante’s Inferno, had not even ended yet, when the Italians were warned that a stronger one called “Caronte” (or Charon, who in Greek mythology was the carrier of the dead) was approaching_ .

As The Observer writes, it was a heat wave in Italy over the weekend, with temperatures peaking at 38 degrees Celsius, while from Monday the Caronte anticyclone will sweep the country, causing the mercury column in the central and southern regions to exceed 40 degrees Celsius. , and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia may peak at 48 degrees Celsius.

Italians are used to hot summers. But not as hot as it is now, especially since successive heatwaves hit suddenly and followed a spring and early summer marked by storms, floods and below-average temperatures.

Massimo Borgia, who runs a newsstand in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome’s Esquilino district, was forced to sell newspapers outside the kiosk because it was too hot inside, The Observer says.

“I have never experienced such extreme heat – it is not normal,” he says. – In June we had heavy rains, and then suddenly it became 40 degrees Celsius. Now they’re saying it’s going to be even worse next week.”

Kevin Cosentino, who works next door at Gatsby, a popular bar with locals and tourists, also says: “It’s terrible. Apart from the fact that customers are nervous, this is difficult to work with.”

Gatsby’s is located under the porch that surrounds the square, in front of the tube station entrance, and has a seating area facing the street. The air is stuffy, despite the fact that the portico protects from the sun. “Sometimes we get a light breeze,” says Cosentino, who starts his shift at 4:00 pm and ends at midnight. “I am really struggling to sleep. Then I’m already tired by the time I start working. It is not easy to work in such conditions.”

Temperatures in Sicily and Sardinia this week could approach the European record set on August 11, 2021, when Florida, a city in the Sicilian province of Syracuse, recorded a high of 48.8°C.

Studies have shown that last summer, which was the hottest on record in Europe, 61,672 people died because of the heat. The death rate was highest in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. A road worker died last week in Milan from a heat-related illness.

Stefano Battiato, who is involved with the Identity Tree project, a public art project partly aimed at promoting sustainable development, created in the gardens of Nicola Calipari in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, tells The Observer: we have greens. One must drink plenty of water and find places like this…otherwise you will end up staying at home or in an air-conditioned mall. But then the use of air conditioners is a vicious cycle that exacerbates the climate crisis.”

Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, the heat plagues not only Europe, but also the New World. Firefighters in Southern California are battling several wildfires in the bush that started on Friday afternoon amid intense heat. The fires were all within 65 km of each other, mostly in rural areas of Riverside County, southeast of Los Angeles.

One of those fires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), burned 4,500 acres and was only 5% contained.

Wildfires broke out due to the fact that California collided with a powerful thermal dome – a warm air mass that is concentrated over the state and keeps heat close to the surface. The US National Weather Service has warned residents to prepare for the hottest weather of the year as temperatures can reach 48.8°C in some areas.

“We’ve been talking about this heat wave in buildings for a week now, and the most intense period is now beginning,” the National Weather Service warns.

Earlier this week, California officials issued a fire hazard warning. “As summer approaches and the vegetation that grew during the wet spring dries up, we are seeing a spike in wildfire activity,” California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot said at a briefing on Wednesday.