Seawater is seeping into Italy’s longest river as the waterway starts to run dry in the heatwave. hitting a farming heartland that produces the milk for Parmesan cheese.
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. raising fears of a devastating drought in July in this corner of northern Italy.
On the bank of one of its branches, farmer Federica Vidali looked anxiously at her sunflower field. The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack. One of the two canals that irrigate it has been shut because the seawater would enter and damage the crops.
“We’re left with the water that others are willing to leave us. But we’re not second-division farmers!” Vidali told AFP.
The Po River’s flow has collapsed in a matter of days. dropping below 300 cubic meters per second, compared with an average of around 1,500 in June, according to Aipo, the interregional river agency.
“It has never dropped so fast, so early,” said Stefano Calderoni of the Italian irrigation association (Anbi).
Sandbanks are multiplying, depths fall to barely one meter in places,. the river’s few remaining fishermen swelter in the heat.
“Before, we used to pass on the left; now the passage is to the right of the sandbank,. it’s very, very narrow,” said Daniela Cuoghi, a surveyor for Aipo.
The many Alpine lakes that feed the Po Valley, Italy’s agro-industrial heartland, are still about 60 percent full. But farmers are drawing heavily from the waterways to irrigate fields parched by the heat.
It rained this winter,. the mountain snow that used to replenish the lake has already melted due to climate change.
“We’re not in a drought situation yet,. at this rate, there’s less than three weeks of water left in reserve,” said Damiano Di Simine, an expert with environmental group Legambiente.
Here are some pictures of the heatwave from the UK and across Europe:
Experts have warned that the heatwave sweeping across Europe could cause Swiss glaciers to lose vast amounts of ice. AFP reports.
The snow. ice that accumulated on Switzerland’s glaciers over the winter is expected to have completely melted by Monday, marking the second-earliest arrival on record of the annual tipping point known as glacier loss day.
Glacier loss day marks the point when a glacier has melted away all the snow it gained during the previous winter. begins losing older glacial ice. Since records began in 2000, the only earlier glacier loss day occurred in 2022, when it fell on 26 June.
“We’re just seeing enormous ablation, ice melt rates. snow melt rates all over the Alps,” said Matthias Huss, head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (Glamos).
“We are three months too early compared to a healthy state.”
A number of major roads in Germany have suffered heat damage while a number of train journeys were cancelled as weather forecasters expect yesterday’s all-time temperature record to be broken again over the weekend.
According to the German Automobile Club (ADAC). 11 motorways have been affected by heat damage, the German newspaper Die Welt reported. Pictures show sections of Germany’s autobahn network where the concrete has expanded and cracked due to the extreme heat.
Deutsche Bahn and other railway companies have advised against non-essential travel this weekend due to the heat.
Deutsche Bahn said: “The transport infrastructure in Germany is severely affected by the record heat this weekend. Rail traffic is also suffering from the extreme temperatures.”
National Express. the rail operator running regional trains in North Rhine-Westphalia state in western Germany, has suspended services for six hours this afternoon due to the high temperatures, according to Die Welt.
Preliminary data from the German Weather Service show the temperature reached 41.3C in Saarbrücken-Burbach yesterday. surpassing the record of 41.2C set in July 2019. The weather service also noted that this new record could be exceeded again over the weekend.
Denmark recorded its highest temperature in more than 150 years today, with the mercury reaching 36.6C.
It surpassed the previous record of 36.4C, which had stood since 1975.
In a post on X. the Danish Meteorological Institute said: “With 36.6C north of Odense, we have the warmest day ever since the measurements began in 1874. And the day isn’t over yet..”
More than 700 flights have been delayed at London Heathrow. Gatwick airports, with some attributed to thunderstorms brought by the record-breaking heatwave.
Data from flight tracking website FlightAware shows 379 flights were delayed coming in. out of Heathrow so far today, as well as 385 to and from Gatwick. Sixty-eight flights were also cancelled at Heathrow, and 31 at Gatwick, according to FlightAware.
A spokesperson at Gatwick said: “Due to ongoing thunderstorms across the network last night, temporary air traffic restrictions were put in place, which resulted in some flights being delayed. cancelled this morning. Passengers should contact their airline for further information.”
The Guardian has contacted Heathrow for comment.
Romania is the latest country to issue a red alert. putting out a warning that almost the entire country would face extreme heat from Monday to Wednesday.
Slovakia has issued a similar warning. confirmed that Friday night was the warmest on record with temperatures not dropping below 26.3C.
The Czech Republic, Hungary. Moldova were also on the highest alert for the weekend, with Balkan countries also bracing for a tough few days.
Seawater is seeping into Italy’s longest river as the waterway starts to run dry in the heatwave. hitting a farming heartland that produces the milk for Parmesan cheese.
The Po River has never fallen this low so early in the year. raising fears of a devastating drought in July in this corner of northern Italy.
On the bank of one of its branches, farmer Federica Vidali looked anxiously at her sunflower field. The first bloom of the season has appeared, but part of the field is already dry and starting to crack. One of the two canals that irrigate it has been shut because the seawater would enter and damage the crops.
“We’re left with the water that others are willing to leave us. But we’re not second-division farmers!” Vidali told AFP.
The Po River’s flow has collapsed in a matter of days. dropping below 300 cubic meters per second, compared with an average of around 1,500 in June, according to Aipo, the interregional river agency.
“It has never dropped so fast, so early,” said Stefano Calderoni of the Italian irrigation association (Anbi).
Sandbanks are multiplying, depths fall to barely one meter in places,. the river’s few remaining fishermen swelter in the heat.
“Before, we used to pass on the left; now the passage is to the right of the sandbank,. it’s very, very narrow,” said Daniela Cuoghi, a surveyor for Aipo.
The many Alpine lakes that feed the Po Valley, Italy’s agro-industrial heartland, are still about 60 percent full. But farmers are drawing heavily from the waterways to irrigate fields parched by the heat.
It rained this winter,. the mountain snow that used to replenish the lake has already melted due to climate change.
“We’re not in a drought situation yet,. at this rate, there’s less than three weeks of water left in reserve,” said Damiano Di Simine, an expert with environmental group Legambiente.
Despite repeated warnings and rising awareness, heatwaves still bring large parts of Europe to its knees.
Several hospitals in England have declared critical incidents as a result of extreme heat, with cooling units breaking down. critical IT systems stalling, while schools, workplaces and railways have been thrown into chaos and wildfires have broken out.
In France, where half of all homes have poor protection from high heat, more than 55 people have drowned while trying to cool down, four young children have died inside hot cars. two nuclear reactors have been forced to close for lack of cooling water.
So just why is Europe so unprepared for rising heat? Read on here:
While much of Germany is braced for temperatures above 40C today. countries farther east that are more usually on the frontline of the climate crisis are experiencing mild weather conditions for this time of year, writes Helena Smith, the Guardian’s Athens-based correspondent.
Unlike huge swathes of western Europe, Greece is neither sweltering nor issuing emergency weather warnings. The mercury was registered at 31C in the Greek capital at noon today. according to Meteo, the official weather portal of Athens’ national observatory. On Sunday, noon readings are forecast at 30C.
The arrival of northerly winds – a summer trait – has brought further reli,. also wildfires, with authorities scrambling to put out blazes that erupted earlier in the day in Thiva, 52 miles (85km) north of Athens.
Budapest is preparing for its first Pride event after former leader Viktor Orbán. who presided over a years-long crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights, was ousted from office in April. That is despite temperatures in the Hungarian capital expected to reach 38C.
Speaking to the Guardian’s European community affairs correspondent, Ashifa Kassam, organisers said this year’s event “is particularly important because it is about hope, caution. perseverance all at once”.
“Budapest Pride’s hope is that LGBTQ people in Hungary will finally be seen not as political targets,. as whole citizens,” said Petra Buzás, part of the organising team.
You can read more of Ashifa’s report here:
Much of Europe is facing another scorching hot day today, with the heatwave moving north-east across the continent.
The highest weather warning has been issued in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria,. Hungary, as scientists at the World Weather Attribution group say the heatwave gripping western Europe “is the most severe ever recorded”.
In Bratislava, the mercury did not drop below 26.3C overnight. The Slovak Meteorological Institute said it was the highest minimum daily air temperature recorded in the capital. beating the previous record of 24.8C set in 2017. “Today the temperature in the warmest locations will reach at least 39C. tomorrow will be even a little warmer,” it said.
The Netherlands Meteorological Institute has issued a red weather alert across much of the country due to extreme heat. with temperatures expected to reach 40C.
The extreme weather has put healthcare systems under severe strain in several countries. with Spain reporting more than 300 heat-related deaths in the past week.
While it will be a lot less hot in the UK, there is still an amber warning for extreme heat over parts of East Anglia. south-east England today.
The Met Office has forecast today’s temperatures as follows:
Families. including parents with newborn babies, are booking air-conditioned rooms in hotels to escape the UK heatwave, with companies reporting a surge in demand.
Data from the accommodation reservation website Booking.com shows that since 1 June. the share of searches using the “air-conditioning” filter has tripled across Great Britain coinciding with the latest heatwave in northern Europe.
Heartwood Inns. which operates pubs with rooms across the UK, said it was running at 86% occupancy this week, with many of its sites at or near capacity. The group has also seen a noticeable shift in inquiries. with about a third of callers asking whether rooms had air conditioning before booking.
The chain said it had also seen an increase in inquiries from parents with newborn babies looking for air-conditioned rooms after struggling to keep their homes cool enough for their infants to sleep comfortably.
The German Weather Service has issued a high temperature warning across Germany. All 16 states are under a heat warning, the majority of which are categorised as “extreme heat”.
“The heatwave is set to peak today. Temperatures of over 36C are expected across the board. with localised highs of up to 42C degrees possible,” it said in a post on Bluesky.
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Analysis by scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found temperatures in the UK, Germany, France, Italy. Spain were between 5C and 12C above the seasonal average.
In a study. the research group also found that in 45% of 854 European cities examined, heat records had been broken or were forecast to be broken. The researchers measured what is known as the wet bulb globe temperature, a metric that combines air temperature, humidity, wind speed,. solar radiation to estimate how much heat stress people are likely to experience in real-world outdoor conditions.
The UK is set to get some respite from this week’s record-breaking heat over the weekend,. much of the rest of Europe remains in the grip of an intense heatwave as it shifts eastwards.
Germany provisionally recorded its highest ever temperature yesterday with 41.3C near the city of Saarbrücken close to the French border. Forecasters say the hottest conditions are now spreading into central. eastern Europe, including Poland and the Balkans, over the weekend.
The Ironman European Championship taking place tomorrow in Frankfurt has been forced to adapt to the extreme conditions, with organisers shortening both the cycling. running courses because of the heat.
“The heatwave is going to peak at the weekend. well over 40C in some parts of Germany,” Karsten Brandt, a meteorologist at weather forecasting site Donnerwetter.de, told Reuters.
France has borne the brunt of the heatwave, with temperatures exceeding well above 40C in some regions. The sweltering conditions have contributed to a growing number of heat-related fatalities in recent days. including dozens of drownings as people sought relief from the heat. Others have died after being left in hot vehicles or from heat stress.
The Pride march scheduled to take place in Paris over the weekend was postponed after police asked organisers to move the event to ease pressure on emergency services responding to the heatwave.
In contrast. organisers of the Budapest Pride march say the event will go ahead as planned this weekend despite temperatures forecast to reach 38C. They say the march is intended to send a message to Hungary’s new government after last year’s ban under former leader Viktor Orbán. underscoring continued public support for LGBTQ+ rights.
“This year’s Pride will send an important signal to the new government: these issues are still relevant,. we still face exclusion in many areas of life,” Hungarian transgender activist Pippin Nadori told AFP.
The UK provisionally broke its June temperature record for a third consecutive day yesterday. with 37.3C reached at Santon Downham in Suffolk. Until this week, the June record was 35.6C from the summer of 1976.
Andy Page. chief forecaster at the Met Office, said the UK will see a gradual shift in conditions over the weekend, with south-east England holding on to the warmest weather the longest. He added that an amber extreme heat warning remains in place for much of today. although temperatures are expected to peak in the low 30s.
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