The world is scorching. Here are the tourist hotspots facing the most heat – National
This year’s tourist season has been unusually hot, with northern hemisphere temperatures reaching record levels and expected to get even hotter in the future.
according to World Meteorological Organization Popular tourist destinations in Europe, including parts of Greece, eastern Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and southern Italy, are currently experiencing the peak of a heatwave, with temperatures surpassing 45 degrees Celsius last week, according to the WMO.
“Unfortunately, we need to step up our efforts to help society adapt to what is becoming the new normal. The WMO community is providing predictions and warnings to save lives and livelihoods, in order to reach the goal of providing early warning for all,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas. on your organization’s web page.
The Italian Meteorological Society has named a scorching heat wave in southern Europe “Cerberus” after the three-headed dog in Greek mythology that guards the gates of the underworld.
Children play in a fountain during a heat wave Friday at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens. Greece’s heat is expected to worsen over the weekend, approaching 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit), and the country will experience another heatwave by the end of July.
AP Photo/Petros Giannacoulis
Italy is currently the hottest destination in Europe. Temperatures last reported by the WMO were 46.3°C in Licata, Sicily and 45.8°C in Liesi on 18 July.
Malaga, Spain reached 44.2 degrees on July 19. According to the WMO, this is about the same as the all-time high recorded on July 18, 1978.
Figueres is currently the hottest region in Spain, with temperatures reaching 45.4 degrees Celsius on 18 July.
Temperatures reached around 40 degrees Celsius in Tilange and Selong, France, last week. Mandelieu La Napoule and Cannes approached at 39 degrees Celsius.
Greece is currently experiencing the hottest temperatures in 50 years.
“The National Meteorological and Hydrological Offices of France, Italy, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia issued orange and red warnings for high temperatures on July 20 and 21,” the WMO reported on its website.
According to the group, the previous highest temperature in Europe was 48.8 degrees Celsius, set in Sicily in August 2021, and the world record was 56.7 degrees Celsius, set in Death Valley, California in July 1913.
At the Pantheon in Rome on Tuesday, tourists line up at a fountain as people endure a heat wave in the Italian capital that reaches blistering temperatures of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Europe, the world’s fastest warming continent, was gearing up for record temperatures this week.
Cecilia Fabiano/Laplace, from ZUMA Press
Tourists walk under the scorching sun in Rome’s Roman Forum on Friday. A new heat wave is expected to last for several days in some parts of southern Europe. The United Nations Meteorological Organization said climate change could cause temperatures in Europe to rise, breaking the record of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit) set in Sicily two years ago.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
In an interview with Global News morning show, Travel expert Marty Firestone said travelers shouldn’t have to cancel their plans because of the heat. However, you must take the necessary precautions to ensure your safety.
“The bottom line is, people need to want pools, they need to want air-conditioned hotels,” he says.
Firestone said there’s no need to cancel planned trips this year, but the heat wave is causing people to change their travel patterns.
“They are now going to avoid the hot summer months and go to some of these hotspots in the fall and winter, so it could be a new wave of how people travel,” he said.
Tourists sheltering from the scorching sun with umbrellas at Rome’s Roman Forum on Friday.
AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
Some of the record temperatures are due to El Niño events, According to WMO, and is expected to fuel additional heat on land and oceans, causing more extreme heatwaves. 2016 was also a year of strong El Niño events.
Experts say more than 60,000 Europeans may have died in last year’s heat wave, despite having the world’s best early warning system.
“If there is a new extreme temperature record during the ongoing heat wave, we will issue a rapid preliminary assessment, and then begin a detailed assessment as part of a thorough validation process.” WMO weather and climate extremes rapporteur Randall Cerveny said in a statement last week:
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