The extreme and early heat wave that has been hitting southern and central Europe for days causing numerous fires, especially in Spain, was moving east this Sunday.
In Spain, firefighters were still fighting on sunday to control several fires in the north.
The most dangerous fire was advancing in the Sierra de Culebra, a mountainous massif in the Castilla y León region (northwest), near the border with Portugal, and had already devoured more 25,000 hectares, as reported by the regional government.
Residents of some 20 villages who had been evacuated were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday morning, local authorities said.
In other regions of Spain, the emergency services were fighting smaller fires, such as in Catalonia (northeast) and Navarra (north), one of the few areas where temperatures were still very high this Sunday.
Spain has suffered throughout this week an exceptional heat wave, with temperatures above 40º C in several regions. According to the meteorological agency Aemet, 43.5ºC were reached in San Sebastián and 42ºC in Zaragoza.
Red alert raised
After also registering temperatures even above 40 degrees, and breaking numerous heat records during Saturday in western France, the expected stormy weather this Sunday would make "gradually decrease" the heat wave, according to Météo France.
But while temperatures drop on the Atlantic coast, the heat wave persists in regions of the northeast, where the weather service forecasts up to 38 degrees and even a little more in the Alsace plain, near the border with Germany.
In Paris, Saturday’s blistering temperatures — as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit — dropped sharply with an overnight thunderstorm. At dawn on Sunday, the French capital was registering a refreshing 16°C
On Sunday morning Météo France lifted the red alert in the southwest, 50 departments in the center and northeast were placed on orange alert, and 32 remain yellow alert.
This was the "earliest recorded heat wave in France" since 1947, declared Matthieu Sorel, climatologist at Météo-France, who insists that it is a "climate change marker"
keep sweating
Also in northern Germany the worst of the heat wave seems to have passed, but the rest of the country "keep sweating"according to the weather agency DWD.
For this Sunday, maximums of between "30 and 38º C".
As a result of the heat, a fire declared on Friday in the Brandenburg region, near Berlin, spread affecting about 100 hectares. Some 700 people were evacuated from the nearby town of Treuenbrietzen, according to local authorities.
The multiplication of heat waves in Europe is a direct consequence of global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions increase the power, duration and recurrence of heat waves, according to scientists.
In Switzerland, the heat wave continues "with an expected high today (Sunday)". After the first heat records reached on Saturday, temperatures will continue to rise a few degrees this Sunday, according to MétéoSuisse.
By 12 noon GMT, temperatures were already between 32 and 34°C (1 to 4°C higher than Saturday). In Geneva, 35°C was reached.