Wildfires are scorching parts of France and Portugal and temperatures in the U.K. could top 104 degrees for the first time on record as extreme heat takes over much of Europe.
Britain’s national weather agency, known as the U.K. Met Office, issued its first-ever red extreme heat warning Friday. The warnings, in place for Monday and Tuesday, cover much of southern England, where temperatures could reach 40 degrees Celsius – or about 104 degrees.
“Nobody alive has seen a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius in the U.K.” weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman pointed out. “That would be a hot day this time of year in Dallas or Houston, much less London.”
In fact, a temperature that high has never even been forecast in Britain, according to the Met Office. The current record high temperature for the U.K. is 38.7 degrees Celsius – about 102 degrees Fahrenheit – set on July 25, 2019, at Cambridge Botanical Garden, about 50 miles north of London.
Travel around London may be snarled on Monday and Tuesday by the heat. Passengers of the London Underground are being told to avoid the popular transit system unless absolutely necessary.
“If customers do need to travel, they should check before they travel as we are expecting there to be some impact to Tube and rail services as a result of temporary speed restrictions we will need to introduce to keep everyone safe,” Andy Lord, chief operating officer of Transport for London, which runs the capital’s transportation system, told the Associated Press.
According to Accuweather, The heat wave impacting Spain for several consecutive days has killed at least 1,000 people in Portugal and Spain, according to BNO News. This comes just one day after it was reported at least 360 people died from the heat in Spain, according to La Vanguardia. On Friday alone, 123 deaths in the country were attributed to the record-breaking heat.
Of the 360 deaths reported on Saturday, the community of Madrid reported 22 deaths, while one 60-year-old municipal cleaning worker died Saturday during work.
On July 10, the first day of the heat wave, 15 heat-related deaths were recorded. Since then, the number of daily deaths has increased every day. By Wednesday, daily deaths attributed to the heat rose to 60 as temperatures surpassed 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the country.
Madrid-Barajas airport hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 C) on Thursday, which broke its record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the month of July. Spain reported 93 deaths attributed to the heat on Thursday.
The heat has been baking Portugal and Spain with temperatures frequently topping 100 F (38 C) since Friday, July 8. Seville, Spain, has been one of the hottest spots with the mercury soaring at or above 105 F (41 C) for nine consecutive days.
The temperature of 116.6 F (47 C) recorded in Pinhão, Portugal, on Thursday, July 14, broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the country in July, according to Portugal’s meteorological agency, Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera The country’s current July record stands at 115.7 F (46.5 C) which was set in Amareleja in 1995.
