Sun, Sea and plenty of Ice please! by Helen Young
The UK had a chilly night last night, seeing temperatures dive to -0.3 Celsius at RAF Benson, near Oxford. This was the coldest temperature recorded at this location for the month of June since 1962. It’s far from cold in many parts of Western Europe at the moment with Portugal and Spain basking in warm summer sun.
In Portugal the health department has issued a heat warning for six central and southern regions because of forecasts that the temperatures are expected to hover in these areas, near to 40 degrees Celsius (104F) over the next few days.
Portugal now has a heat alert system in place, which is issued in the form of coded levels. The levels are blue, normal, and yellow, yellow being the higher state of alert. The latter is the colour that has been issued for the next few days covering the appropriate regions, as a caution that the high temperatures could have adverse affects on health, especially the very young, the elderly and the chronically ill. Having the ‘yellow’ alert in place means that hospitals are required, to boost their capacity, deal with extra patients and to monitor more closely, the effects of the heat on vulnerable people.
The heat alert system was put in place after the dramatic heat wave which engulfed Western Europe in 2003, killing hundreds in Spain, thousands in both Portugal and France along with some in the UK. The EU have started taking measures to find ways of lessening the effects of future heat waves on the population, and to find ways of warning people, along with preparing the emergency services for the influx of casualties at these times. Spain last week announced the launch of a new system, where elderly and others vulnerable to the heat are given warnings if the temperatures rise above 40C via text messages to their mobile phones.
Currently temperatures in general across Portugal are some 7 degrees Celsius above normal, with daily temperatures hovering around 34C in southern parts. In Evoro yesterday, which is close to the border with Spain temperatures soared to 38C (100F), which is 12C over the average for this area, at only 26C. Spain has joined in the basking where temperatures yesterday reached highs of 40C in Cordoba, and expected to reach similar levels in Seville later this week. Madrid is expected to reach a high of 38C (104F) later in the week, while Barcelona should be much cooler in the mid 20’s.
So if your heading off to any of the Iberia areas over the next week, it would be worth making sure you take plenty sun cream, avoid the midday sun and drink plenty of water while your there.
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