…. But don’t blame it all on climate change!
Yes, it is ‘ridiculously hot’: but it cannot be totally blamed on climate change. Portugal has always had heatwaves and hot summers – some hotter than most, particularly when they are followed by wet winters (which we have just had).
According to meteorological institute IPMA, last weekend’s stultifying temperatures reached a crescendo in the little town of Mora, in the district of Évora: a hellish 46.6ºC.
As reports concede, ‘one has to go back to August 1, 2003 to find a value close to this absolute maximum in the country – 47.3ºC in Amareleja, Beja district’.
In other words, over 20 years ago, there were summers that brought these poleaxing heatwaves – thus the constant presentation of maps showing a ‘red Iberian peninsula’ and talk of the horrors of climate change and the use of fossil fuels do need to be put in some kind of perspective.
Meteorologist Alexandra Fonsea has been talking about this heatwave to Lusa, and essentially stressing that we cannot expect too much of a respite before the middle of the week.
Even so, as the month of June goes, this has been a hot one. And the top temperature recorded in Mora on Saturday was higher than the last ‘top temperature for June ever recorded’ (44.9ºC) registered in Alcácer do Sal (Setúbal district) in June 2017′ – the month when Portugal suffered the highest casualties in wildfires in living memory.
Source material: LUSA
