Greece is facing its worst heat wave in 30 years

Greece is experiencing the “worst heat wave” in more than 30 years, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned today, who called on residents to reduce their electricity consumption.

“We are facing the worst heat wave since 1987,” Mitsotakis said after a meeting with officials from the Greek electricity distribution company, Admie, which is causing “an overload on the electricity grid.”

Greece has been experiencing a heat wave since last Thursday, which is expected to peak today and Tuesday with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius in some areas, according to weather forecasts.

The country experienced a similar heat wave in July 1987 that mainly affected Athens and claimed more than a thousand lives due to lack of air conditioning and air pollution.

Mitsotakis said authorities were “doing everything they can to deal with the situation” and urged power grid users to reduce energy consumption “especially in the afternoon and night.”

The Greek Weather Service expects temperatures between 40 and 42 degrees on the islands and 41 to 43 degrees on the mainland for today and Tuesday, with a maximum of 44 degrees to 45 degrees in the Peloponnese and Thessaly (north).

In Athens, the forecast for today is 43 degrees high and 31 degrees low.

Several fires broke out in Greece over the weekend, without causing any casualties, especially on the island of Rhodes and northwestern Peloponnese.

These fires were now “in the doldrums,” but firefighters were still trying to get them under control.

“In July, we witnessed 1,584 fires compared to 953 in 2019,” Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias was quoted by AFP as telling Greek television.

Hardelis considered that “we are no longer talking about climate change, but about climate threats.”

“We are in the stage of absolute climate liberalization,” he added.

Scientists claim that heat waves are an unmistakable sign of global warming and that they will become more frequent, longer and more intense.