Temperatures of 45 degrees and counting!

Spain has been enduring the hottest day of the year today, with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 F).

Spain has been enduring the hottest day of the year today, August 14, with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 F). Meanwhile, in Italy, cities are on red alert for health risks as a heatwave engulfs south Europe.

In the southern province of Granada, temperatures reached 45.4 Celsius (113.7 C) by 4pm, understandably, many people stayed indoors to avoid the heat. Those who did sought out shade and took photographs of public thermometers showing the extremely high temperatures.

Ice cream shops and parlours made a lot of money, and some restaurants even installed sprinklers to spray mists of water overheated diners, according to Market Watch.

Miriam Garcia, a student, said she wished she hadn’t stepped outside: “It is very hot, we have to drink water and put on suncream all the time, stopping to have a drink at a bar every so often,”

“It would be better to be at home than in the street, it’s so hot!”

A climate scientist at the University of Santiago de Compostela said that hot air travelling from the Sahara Desert has brought days of heat and caused hundreds of wildfires across Mediterranean countries, and they don’t look to be stopping any time soon.

“The heatwave we are experiencing now is very extreme and a lot of people are saying that it’s normal, as we are in summer. But it’s not, not this hot,” Roye said.

Temperatures at night are expected to exceed 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) in much of Spain, Roye said that he worries about residents who cannot afford air conditioning and vulnerable people like the homeless, the elderly and outdoor workers.

“The more intense the heat, the higher the mortality risk,” he said.

“When you have high night temperatures, our bodies are prevented from resting. The body is working and working to cool down. We have found a strong link between mortality and night temperatures exceeding 20 degrees (68 degrees).”

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