Europe heat wave: Italy braces for record heat as… – The Independent

High summer temperatures in southern Europe could spark a lasting change in tourist habits, with more travelers choosing cooler destinations or taking their holidays in spring or autumn to avoid extreme heat, tourism bodies and experts predict.

Data from the European Travel Commission (ETC) shows that the number of people hoping to travel to the Mediterranean region between June and November has already fallen by 10% compared to last year, when scorching weather led to droughts and fires. forestry.

Meanwhile, destinations like the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland and Bulgaria have seen a surge in interest.

“We anticipate that unpredictable weather conditions in the future will have a greater impact on the choices of travelers in Europe,” said Miguel Sanz, director of ETC.

A trade body report also shows that 7.6% of travelers now see extreme weather events as a major concern for travel between June and November.

Among them are Anita Elshoy and her husband, who returned home to Norway from their favorite vacation spot of Vasanello, a town north of Rome, a week earlier than planned this month when temperatures hit 35C.

“(My) head hurt a lot, my legs and (my) fingers swelled up and I got more and more dizzy,” Elshoy said of her heat-related symptoms. “We were supposed to be there for two weeks, but we couldn’t (stay) because of the heat.”

Italy is preparing for its highest temperature today, as the European Space Agency has forecast Sardinia and Sicily to hit 48°C.

Twenty red warning alerts were issued today in 27 cities across Italy as the country endures another day of relentless heat wave.

Meteorologists predict that temperatures this week can beat EuropeThe current record of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.84 Fahrenheit), set in Sicily in August 2021, raises fears of a repeat of last year. heat deceased.

The Cerberus heat wave has been causing a rise in mercury in southern Europe since last week, with temperatures of 40°C or higher in some parts of the continent.

With preliminary figures showing Earth’s average temperature set a new record On July 13 for the third time in a week, this new heat wave will continue to affect tourists, especially those heading to the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Italy and Greece, as well as locals.

The heat wave has been caused by a combination of unusually high sea surface temperatures and an area of ​​high pressure over the Mediterranean, with the addition of Saharan dust clouds in some areas.

US climate envoy John Kerry is in Beijing as the two countries restart climate talks after a year-long hiatus amid scorching heat waves affecting both regions and much of the hemisphere north.

Mr Kerry met with China’s climate envoy yesterday and China’s top diplomat today, saying that President Joe Biden’s administration is “very committed” to stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Kerry told Wang Yi that Biden hoped the two countries could “make efforts together that can make a significant difference in the world.”

Ties between the countries have reached a record low amid disputes over tariffs, access to technology, human rights and threats from China against Taiwan’s self-government.

In his opening remarks, Wang said the parties had suffered from a lack of communication, but China believes that through renewed dialogue “we can find an appropriate solution to any problem.”

Switzerland ordered the evacuation of several mountain villages last night as a forest fire spread, amid blistering heat across Europe.

Some 200 firefighters, the army, the police and other partners worked together with helicopters to put out the flames in the canton of Valais throughout the afternoon, but they continued to burn.

“Fire is spreading towards Ried-Morel-Riederhorn,” police said in a short statement on Twitter at 6:30pm GMT, saying they would evacuate the town of Ried-Morel, near the town of Brig, which is near the border with Italy. He later added that three other villages would be evacuated and warned of rockfalls.

It was not immediately clear how many people were affected.

Air Zermatt, which operates four of the helicopters, said efforts to extinguish the fire would continue overnight.

Valais police released photos showing a helicopter hanging a water cannon over a forest fire in the afternoon. A later shot showed a much larger fire with smoke dwarfing most of the forest.

The area is being hit by the same Mediterranean heatwave that is affecting southern Europe, with temperatures topping 30C in parts of the Valais canton this week, forecasts show.

Experts also warned that the UK is “dangerously ill-prepared” for the coming heat because most of its buildings were designed for a colder climate that is now disappearing.

TO virus with a death rate of 30 percent is spreading in Europe, an expert has warned, as the continent deals with intense and prolonged heat due to the climate crisis.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a disease caused by a tick-borne virus, is classified as one of nine “priority diseases” considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) for “representing the greatest risk to public health due to its epidemic potential.”

The disease, with a mortality rate of about 30 percent, already kills about 500 people each year and is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asian countries south of the geographic limit of the main tick vector, which it stretches as far north as Mongolia, says the UN health agency.

However, a virologist has warned that ticks carriers of the virus “were advancing across Europe due to climate change, with longer and drier summers.”

Read this report from andy gregory for more:

Southern European countries battling intense heat could see the mercury rise even higher from today as forecasts show temperatures rising to as high as 46°C in parts.

Italy, Spain and Greece are forecast to see temperatures above 40°C largely as a second heat wave called Charon engulfs the region.

Sardinia and Sicily are expected to record temperatures above 45°C or even as high as 48°C, which, if it happens, could threaten the record 48.8°C for the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

Weather maps show the heat wave intensifying in the middle of the week before a brief respite at the end of the week in some parts of Italy.

Here’s a breakdown by country and a temperature forecast:

Meanwhile, in the UK, leaked government plans to adapt the UK to the effects of climate change have been labeled “deeply disappointing”.

The latest National Adaptation Program was expected to be released on Tuesday, but was released on Monday following a leak to The Guardian newspaper.

The 140-page document offers a five-year plan that the ministers say would boost resilience and help protect people, homes and businesses from heat waves, droughts, floods and other damaging impacts of climate change.

It also commits the Ministry of Justice to investigate the impact of weather on the behavior of staff and inmates, with pilot plans for 2027.

As for the natural environment, Defra also noted plans for environmental land management plans and local nature recovery strategies.

But the plan was criticized for not adequately addressing adaptation planning.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called it “deeply disappointing and really lacking in ambition”.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, wrote on Twitter: “In many parts of the world, today is forecast to be the hottest day on record.

“And these records have already been broken several times this year. Heat waves put our health and lives at risk.

“The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It is happening. I urge world leaders to act now.”

It comes as many parts of Italy are about to hit 45C on Tuesday.