Northern and Central Europeans have been accustomed for decades to spending their summer holidays on Mediterranean beaches to relax and warm up under the hot summer sun.
But news reports brimming with apocalyptic footage of tourists fleeing wildfires in Rhodes and Corfu in Greece, or fainting under the scorching sun in southern Italy, may force habits to be reconsidered.
Last June turned out to be the hottest in the history of observations, July, judging by preliminary estimates, will also beat this record. Scientists are confident that due to climate change aggravated by human activity, such anomalous bursts will occur more and more often.
Consecutive heatwaves in southern latitudes, with temperatures soaring past 40 degrees Celsius, could make this July the hottest month ever recorded in the world.
Climate models compiled by scientists show that the situation will continue to deteriorate as the average annual temperature on the planet continues to rise. At the same time, experts say that Europe is warming faster than most parts of the world.
However, according to the data of the unified information system of the EU on wildfires (EFFIS), of all European countries, the number of fires this year exceeded the long-term average values only in Greece alone.
This, however, does not at all alleviate the fate of tourists stuck in Rhodes and forced to spend their holidays in temporary shelters or even leave home ahead of schedule.