Extreme heat across the Mediterranean is expected to build into the weekend, testing records in fire-ravaged Greece after easing slightly on Thursday.
Temperatures on the Italian island of Sardinia climbed close to a record of 118 on Wednesday, but Greece and the Balkans are becoming the new focus of the Saharan anticyclone. Forecast highs will reach 115 on Sunday, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service. The country’s all-time high of 118.4 was set in Athens in 1977, standing as a European record until it was eclipsed by Sicily’s 119.84 two years ago.
Most of the wildfires burning around Athens have been brought under control, though authorities are evacuating an area close to Mandras, northwest of the capital. The blaze on the Greek island of Rhodes is still burning, but is no longer threatening homes.
As heat, floods and fires torment the Northern Hemisphere, Washington’s climate envoy John Kerry said the U.S. and China — the world’s biggest polluters — need more time to “break new ground” in their shared mission to combat global warming. Those heat waves are set to become more intense and prolonged as burning fossil fuels spurs a deadly climatic spiral.
