Weather tracker: records fall but worst of Europe’s heatwave may yet be to come
Extreme heat has lingered over southern Europe throughout the past week, with all-time records broken in a number of locations. Just a few places that recorded their highest ever temperature on 19 July include: Decimomannu in Sardinia at 46.2C, Malaga airport in Spain at 44.2C, and Durrës in Albania at 40.4C.
The World Meteorological Organization confirmed that the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe was 48.8C in Sicily in 2021, possibly spurred on by the risk of this week’s heatwave breaking records. Throughout the coming week much of Spain and France will have a respite from the highest temperatures. However, from Italy eastwards into the Balkans the heat will linger and the worst may be yet to come.
This prolonged spell of heat has led to wildfires in southern Europe that have caused extensive damage. It has also caused some intense hail storms, particularly in northern Italy. On 19 July, hail the size of large grapefruits came down near Treviso, smashing windows and damaging cars. Some of the hailstones were estimated to have been about 15cm in diameter. If verified, they could break the European record, which is 15cm, and fell in Romania on 26 May 2016.
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Hailstorms pummel northern Italy after days of extreme heat – video report
Elsewhere, a tropical depression off the east coast of the Philippines is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm within the coming days, and likely to become the next typhoon of the season. It will be the fifth typhoon to affect the country this year. The typhoon will be named Egay and is expected to track northwards through the Philippine Sea into the East China Sea before potentially skimming the east coast of central China later next week. With the anomalously high sea surface temperatures across much of the globe currently, including around the Philippines and China, it is likely Egay will be able to sustain itself for some time and become quite prolonged.