By Euronews
Published on
ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
Portugal entered a state of alert on Sunday due to the worsening risk of wildfires amid severe hot weather.
Temperatures there are expected to range from 36 to 44 degrees Celsius.
Portugal’s Minister of Internal Administration Maria Lúcia Amaral said access, movement and permanence within forest spaces would be prohibited in accordance with forest fire defence plans.
Fireworks, carrying out work and using machinery and burning things will also be prohibited as the nation faces the extreme heat. Amaral said these preventative measures came amid the high temperatures and low humidity and the corresponding risk of wildfires.
Five districts in the north of the country will be on red alert on Monday and Tuesday. All the remaining districts will be on orange alert, except for the district of Faro which will be on yellow.
The high alert situation will last until Thursday.
Forest fires continue to rage in the north of Portugal and at least one village in the Douro region had to be evacuated on Sunday.
Spain will also experience high temperatures as a mass of hot air from North Africa hovers over the Iberian Peninsula.
It is currently enduring the summer’s second heatwave expected to last until the end of the weak. The extreme weather is set to affect the entire country except for the Cantabrian region and the Canary Islands.
Temperatures in Andalucía, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, and Galicia are expected to surpass 40 degrees Celsius, with some zones like the Guadalquivir valley reaching as high as 42 degrees.
Spain’s Ministry of Health issued a “red risk” health alert for hundreds of municipalities.
The heatwave in both Portugal and Spain will reach its peak intensity on Monday and Tuesday.
Typically, cold Nordic countries are also being seared by a “truly unprecedented” heatwave, according to local authorities.
Scientists say the region went through its longest heatwave since the 1960s – with temperatures regularly soaring past 30 degrees Celsius.
Finland had three straight weeks with over 30 degrees Celsius heat in July. Norway’s Meterological Institute said temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius were recorded on 12 days in July in the country’s most northernmost counties. Swedish scientists also noted long-term heatwaves affecting the north of the country.
The area has also been hit by storms and lighting strikes that have sparked wildfires.
Warnings were also issued in eastern Poland for storms, rain and heat over the weekend.
Strong winds of up to 80 km/h and hail are affected to hit parts of the country. The most severe warnings have been issued for parts of the Warmian-Masurian, Masovian, Lublin and Subcarpathian Voivodeships.
Storms in these areas will be accompanied by heavy rainfall of up to 45mm.
Authorities also warn of heatwave conditions with temperatures in the affected regions expected to hover around 30 degrees Celsius.
However, the long period of unstable weather that has characterised this year’s Italian summer is finally coming to an end.
After baking in heatwaves across the country, rainstorms are now affecting several regions, particularly those along the Adriatic coast.
A 70-year-old man was reportedly struck by lightning on a beach in Piombino during a storm. He was saved by the intervention of rescue services, and his heart began beating again after 30 minutes of resuscitation. He was then transferred by hospital to a local hospital.