Hot, dusty and on fire: European heatwave breaks records as Portugal nears 47 degrees

Eight places in Portugal have broken local temperature records as a wave of heat from North Africa swept across the Iberian peninsula — and officials predicted the scorching temperatures could get even worse over the weekend.

The temperature in Lisbon has reached 39 degrees
Celsius and is expected to keep rising.

Temperatures built to around 45 degrees Celsius on Friday (local time) in many inland areas of Portugal, and were expected to peak at 47C in some places on Saturday. Large sections of Portugal are on red alert on the Civil Protection Agency's danger scale

.

The highest temperature recorded on Thursday, when the heat began to rise, was 45.2C near Abrantes, a town 150 kilometres north-east of the capital, Lisbon, the country's weather agency IPMA said.

Read the ABC News story - “Hot, dusty and on fire: European heatwave breaks records as Portugal nears 47 degrees.”

How to ensure resilience in the grid of the future

Recently it was reported that a political dispute between Serbia and Kosovo is sapping a small amount of energy from the local grid, causing a domino effect across the 25-nation network spanning the continent from Portugal to Poland and Greece to Germany.

Collapsed electricity pylon
after a tornado in Australia.

“The deviation from Europe’s standard 50 Hz frequency has been enough to cause electric clocks that keep time by the power system’s frequency, rather than built-in quartz crystals, to fall behind by about six minutes since mid- January.”

This is a good example for a phenomenon known as the fragility of complex systems: the tendency for multilayered and interconnected systems like electricity grids, transport networks (think gridlock) and the world health system (think pandemics and antibiotic resistance) to become increasingly prone to failure as layers of organisation and connectivity are added.

Read the piece from energypost by Mark Bryne - “How to ensure resilience in the grid of the future.”

Wildfires sweep Portugal, northern Spain, killing dozens

Lisbon/Madrid: At least 36 people have died in wildfires raging through parched farmlands and forests in Portugal and another three in neighbouring north-western Spain.

Residents walk past a burnt bus as a wildfire moves
forward in Chandebrito in the north-western Spanish
 region of Galicia. 

Firefighters were battling 50 blazes in Portugal and a similar number in Spain on Monday, local time.

Portugal's government has asked for international help and declared a state of emergency in territory north of the Tagus river - about half its landmass.

Flames ripped across Iberian countryside left tinder-dry by an unusually hot summer and early autumn, fanned by strong winds as remnants of ex-Hurricane Ophelia brushed coastal areas.

Read the story by Andrei Khalip and Raquel Castillo in today’s Melbourne Age - "Wildfires sweep Portugal, northern Spain, killing dozens.”

Huge forest fires in Portugal kill at least 57 people

At least 57 people have been killed in huge forest fires in central Portugal, many dying in their cars as they tried to flee the flames.

Portugal ablaze.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, described the blazes – which have injured dozens more people – as “the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires”, and warned the death toll could rise.

Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late on Saturday to tackle the fire, which broke out in the municipality of Pedrógão Grande before spreading fast.

Spain dispatched two water-bombing planes on Sunday morning to aid the Portuguese fire service, while France sent three aircraft.

The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, promised to provide any assistance necessary, tweeting: “Stunned by the tragedy in Pedrógão Grande. The Portuguese people can depend on our solidarity, support and affection.”

Read the story by Sam Jones on The Guardian - “Huge forest fires in Portugal kill at least 57 people.”