Heat wave smashes all-time heat records in Portugal and Spain – Portugal battles wildfires, and France nuclear reactors shut down due to heat – “We are facing a new reality”
Dr. Jeff Masters
5 August 2018
(Weather Underground) – The future-is-now Northern Hemisphere summer of 2018 roasted a new portion of Europe with all-time record heat over the weekend: Portugal and Spain. Portugal’s capital city Lisbon hit 111.2°F (44°C) on Saturday, its hottest temperature ever recorded. The previous record was 109.4°F (43°C) in 1981. Portugal’s weather service said new all-time highs were recorded at 26 of the 96 weather stations in the country, including all three weather stations in Lisbon, and more than 60 percent of the nation registered temperatures over 104°F (40°C). The hottest temperature in Portugal was 116.2°F (46.8°C) at Alvega in the center of the country, which fell short of the all-time Portuguese record of 117.3°F (47.4°C ) set on August 1, 2003 at Amareleja. According to weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera, in Spain, three out of the six weather stations in the capital of Madrid beat their all-time heat records on August 3, as did Reus, Spain, with 103.6°F (39.8°C). Three heat-related deaths were reported in Spain.Herrera said that the most impressive record from the heat wave was an almost-unimaginable 113.9°F (45.5°C) measured at Setubal, Portugal–the highest temperature ever recorded on the coast of the Iberian Peninsula, trouncing the previous record by an remarkable margin. And on Sunday morning, August 5, a horribly hot minimum temperature of 89.8°F (32.1°C) occurred at Portalegre, Portugal – only 0.1°C from the national record of highest minimum set at Faro on 26 July 2004. Lisbon also set its record of highest minimum ever: 82.8°F (28.2°C) at Gago Coutinho, and 82.4°F (28.0°C) at the Geofisico Observatory, now part of the Instituto Dom Luiz (period of record since 1901). Their previous record was 82.0°F (27.8°C) on August 2, 1964. In the tweet below, weather records expert Etienne Kapikian summarized some significant stations that set new all-time maximum temperature records in Portugal on August 4. [more]
Heat Wave Smashes All-Time Heat Records in Portugal and Spain
By Barry Hatton
6 August 2018 LISBON, Portugal (AP) – Emergency services in Portugal continued their fight Monday against a major, four-day wildfire on the south coast that threatened to engulf a hillside town overnight.The Civil Protection Agency said 44 people required medical assistance as the blaze passed by the outskirts of Monchique, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Lisbon, in the dark. A 72-year-old woman was seriously hurt.Authorities said that more than 1,100 firefighters with 327 vehicles and eight aircraft were battling the blaze that erupted amid a heatwave caused by a mass of hot air from North Africa.The rest of Europe has also felt the torrid recent weather.In France, where four nuclear reactors have been temporarily closed due to the heat, three cities banned the most polluting cars from the roads because of heat-linked ozone pollution.The heat wave in France is expected to last until Thursday, with temperatures peaking Tuesday.In Norway, authorities warned motorists to watch out for reindeer and sheep taking shelter from the heat in tunnels.Neighboring Sweden has been fighting an uncommon number of wildfires this summer, even above the Arctic Circle, and a European Union official pointed his finger at climate change.“We are facing a new reality,” EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said. As a result, the EU must become “collectively (be) better prepared and stronger in responding to multiple disasters across the continent,” he said. […]Parts of the south and northeast of the country remained at “extreme risk” of wildfires, however, according to the national weather agency’s forecast. […]Overnight, dozens of homes and a hotel were evacuated around the town of about 2,000 people which is known for its spa.The wind-driven fire has been racing across tinder-dry pine and eucalyptus forest in a largely inaccessible hill range behind the famous beaches of Portugal’s Algarve vacation region.Plumes of black smoke have blown across beaches popular with European tourists.
