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Today’s newsletter picks up where yesterday’s left off as temperatures soared across swathes of Spain, Greece and Croatia, triggering health alerts and forcing many to get up earlier to avoid the hottest hours of the day.
Most of Spain topped 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, and the regions of Andalusia, Extremadura, Madrid and Aragon reached 40 C, weather service AEMET said.
Echoing authorities across southern Europe, Spain’s health ministry told people to drink water, protect themselves against the sun and pay particular attention to the young and the elderly.
Speaking of the young, Barcelona 11-year-old Pol Dominguez, does not spend his days at the beach or the pool. Instead he stays indoors to avoid ultraviolet radiation that could be deadly for him.
Dominguez has Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), a rare disease that affects his skin and eyes. Sufferers are unable to repair their DNA from solar damage, which puts them at high risk of developing cancer.
To avoid severe sunburn and blistering, Dominguez wears a hood, jacket, sunglasses and gloves outside, even in winter. Click here to read more about the Dominguez family and how they cope in extreme heat.
Over in Greece, Yannis Asimakopoulos has worked as food delivery driver in Athens for 17 years and cannot recall a hotter summer.
Authorities shut all archaeological sites in Athens and restricted outdoor work as the country sizzled under its second heatwave this year.
Thermal cameras have recorded temperatures as high as around 70 C on road surfaces. But Asimakopoulos still has to go out to work.
“Driving is really hard. You have to wear a helmet, the visor of the helmet fogs up from the sweat. You have to stop all the time, the tires melt faster, the street is slippery, the conditions in general are really difficult,” Asimakopoulos said after the end of his shift at noon.
High temperatures have disrupted life across Europe since June. Hundreds of wildfires have broken out following the warmest winter on record that scientists have linked to global climate change.
Tourists in their hundreds of thousands are seeking relief in the sea off Croatia’s Adriatic coast.
Daytime temperatures on land have risen above 40 C this week, while the sea temperature around the city of Dubrovnik, to the south of Split, hit a record 29.7 C on Monday.
