Update: Greece Fights Almost 200 Wildfires as Wind Raises Risk in Mediterranean

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Greece is fighting almost 200 wildfires as strengthening winds put a sting in the tail of the Mediterranean’s fading heat wave.

More villages in mainland Greece were evacuated on Thursday as blazes threatened, while two people died in Velestino. A woman was found inside her charred caravan, and a farmer was killed after trying to rescue livestock in a forest. A fire in the northern Athens suburb of Kifisia was quickly contained, but parts of the island of Rhodes are burning for a 10th day.

Strong winds are hampering efforts to contain wildfires burning across the Mediterranean from Algeria to Turkey, as the world stays on track for its hottest ever month in July. In Spain, the risk of fires increased overnight, with many parts of Madrid and surrounding areas now under the highest alert. More heat will build over the Iberian peninsula toward the end of next week.

“There is no doubt, we see it all over the Mediterranean, that the climate crisis is here and affects us all more intensely and perhaps more than scientists had warned us,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday.

A blaze in the region of Volos, in central Greece, reached an ammunition dump outside a military air base in Nea Anchialos, triggering a series of large explosions that broke windows in a surrounding area. The site had been evacuated in advance and no injuries were reported. Several villages in the broader coastal area are being evacuated as a precaution.

Scientists say the extreme heat seen across the Northern Hemisphere from the US to China this month would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. As rapidly warming seas and retreating Antarctic ice signal the risk of an approaching climatic tipping point, many leaders are still dragging their feet on curbing the use of fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gases.

“We need ambitious new emissions reduction targets from G20 members,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday, adding that the time for “greenwashing” and “deception” was over. “For the entire planet, it is a disaster.”

In Asia, the World Meteorological Organization found that $36 billion was lost in economic damages because of extreme weather last year, with the severity and intensity of such events set to increase.

Fires across Greece have led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists since Saturday, threatening the livelihoods of locals who depend on summer visitors.

Greece’s Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told state-run ERT that most of island of Rhodes is operating normally. A large number of tourists that were evacuated last weekend have even returned to their hotels, especially in the Lindos area, she said.

At the same time, coastguard vessels are standing by off Rhodes, Corfu and central Greece to evacuate people from beaches should nearby wildfires flare.

The wildfire threat should dissipate somewhat from Friday, with no regions of the country facing the highest alert level, although six will still be subject to very high risk.

#EMSR677 #Wildfire in #Corfu, #Greece🇬🇷
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➡️A total burnt area of 2,160 ha🔥 has been detected (+560 ha in 24h)
➡️77 ha of built-up affected🏚️
More at👇 https://t.co/nbpcyjdfYo pic.twitter.com/EK7hhexPND
— Copernicus EMS (@CopernicusEMS) July 27, 2023

Cooler weather is dominating over northern Europe, with temperatures in Germany, France and Nordic countries below seasonal averages. Berlin will dip as low as 12C (53.6F) today, almost 4C below the norm, according to forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc.

Although the UK is also experiencing colder weather, last month’s heat wave produced the country’s hottest June on record. A new report from the Met Office found that last summer’s record-breaking temperatures of above 40C could be considered normal by 2060 and even cool by 2100.

“As our climate warms, we expect far more high temperature records to be broken, potentially by wide margins, and far fewer low temperature records,” Mike Kendon, senior scientist at the Met Office, said in a statement.

–With assistance from Lars Mucklejohn.

Photograph: Wildfires burn near Volos, central Greece on July 26, 2023 Photo credit: Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP/Getty Images