Latest news with #Andalucían
Tokyo Weekender
02-07-2025
- Climate
- Tokyo Weekender
Japan Endures Hottest June on Record
On Tuesday, the country's weather agency revealed that Japan experienced its hottest June on record. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the nationwide average temperature was 2.34 degrees Celsius above normal , based on figures recorded between 1991 and 2020. It was also close to 1 degree Celsius warmer than the previous record set five years ago. More than 200 weather stations recorded temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius from the start of May to mid-June. The most intense temperatures last month were recorded between June 16 and June 18. The average temperature 1,500 meters above sea level during that period was the highest since 1950 at 17.2 degrees Celsius. Much of Japan was still in the rainy season at the time. The agency said the severe heat is expected to continue throughout July. List of Contents: Unusual Heat Waves in Europe Expect 'Even Worse' in the Future Related Posts Unusual Heat Waves in Europe In the past few days, many countries in the N orthern H emisphere have experienced unusual heat waves. On Saturday, Spain's national weather service confirmed a record 46 degrees Celsius reading in the southern town of El Granado in the Andalucían province of Huelva. The country's highest temperature previously recorded for the month was 45.2 degrees Celsius in Seville 60 years ago. The following day, Mora, a city around 60 miles east of Lisbon, registered a reading of 46.6 degrees Celsius, a record for mainland Portugal. In France, meanwhile, heat warnings covered almost the entire mainland for the first time ever. By lunchtime on Tuesday, close to 2,000 schools and colleges had decided to close. 'Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,' said UN Secretary General António Guterres. Expect 'Even Worse' in the Future The world will simply have to get used to these extreme conditions. That is the message from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 'As a result of human-induced climate change, extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense. It's something we have to learn to live with,' said WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis on Tuesday. She added: 'What can we expect in the future? More of the same, even worse.' Related Posts Brace Yourself: Tokyo Hits 30 Degrees for the First Time in 2025 5 Japanese Products To Save You From The Summer Heat Heat Waves Force Japan's Beloved Summer Festivals To Change Seasons
Irish Examiner
30-06-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Spain records highs of 46C and France under alert as Europe swelters in heatwave
A vicious heatwave has engulfed southern Europe, with punishing temperatures that have reached highs of 46C in Spain and placed almost the entirety of mainland France under alert. Extreme heat, made stronger by fossil fuel pollution, has for several days scorched Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece as southern Europe endures its first major heatwave of the summer. The high temperatures have prompted the authorities in several countries to issue new health warnings and scramble firefighters to prevent wildfires from breaking out. 'Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,' said António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, at a development conference in Seville on Monday. The southern Spanish city is forecast to roast in more than 40C heat for the next three days and face night-time temperatures of at least 25C until Thursday morning. Doctors have expressed alarm at the combination of hot days and uncomfortably warm nights, which can place a lethal stress on the human body. In Italy, where 21 out of 27 cities were placed on the highest heat alert on Sunday, hospital admissions in some of the hottest regions — such as Tuscany — are up 20%. People have been advised not to venture outside between 11am and 6pm. In France, heat warnings covered nearly the entire mainland for the first time in history. Météo-France has placed 88% of administrative areas under the second-highest orange heat alerts. 'This is unprecedented,' said the ecology minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Young swimmers jump into the water from a rock on a breakwater in Barcelona. Picture: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti The French government asked businesses to adapt staff hours to protect workers from the heat, and 200 public schools are to be partly or totally closed on Monday and Tuesday. The first fire of the summer broke out in France in the south-west of the country at the weekend, burning 400 hectares and leading to the precautionary evacuation of more than 100 people from their homes. In Spain, which has had the worst of the weather, a provisional June temperature record of 46C was set on Saturday afternoon in El Granado, in the Andalucían province of Huelva. The highest temperature previously recorded for June was 45.2C logged in Seville in 1965. Sunday was the hottest 29 June in Spain on record, according to records from Aemet, the Spanish meteorological agency, that stretch back to 1950. The heat is expected to last till Thursday. In Portugal, where seven of 18 regions are under red warnings of 'extreme risk', meteorologists expect the weather to cool down on Wednesday night. Countries farther north are also in danger. The German weather service has said heat and dry weather are stoking the risk of forest fires, with some cities imposing limits on water extraction as temperatures in parts of the country approach 40C by Wednesday. In Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, the government has urged employers to take the danger to their staff into account. 'Companies are bound by heat protection rules at the workplace,' the regional health minister Britta Müller said, including maintaining an acceptable temperature indoors and guarding against excessive sun exposure. The UK is projected to have temperatures of 34C in London and the south-east of England, with the British Met Office warning that high temperatures and humid conditions will be 'quite uncomfortable' for those working outside, as well as people attending the start of Wimbledon. Deaths due to heat Heat kills an estimated half a million people globally each year, with older people and those with chronic illness particularly vulnerable. The extreme temperatures across Europe are a result of a heat dome that is trapping an area of high pressure and hot air. It comes amid an ongoing marine heatwave that has left the Mediterranean 5C hotter than normal, according to data from the University of Maine's climate change institute. Dr Michael Byrne, a climate scientist at the University of St Andrews, said heat domes were nothing new but the temperatures they delivered were. 'Europe is more than 2C warmer than in preindustrial times, so when a heat dome occurs it drives a hotter heatwave,' he said. Doctors across the continent warned people to take extra care in the hot weather, encouraging them to stay out of the heat, drink lots of water, wear loose clothing and check in on vulnerable neighbours. Researchers estimate that dangerous temperatures in Europe will kill 8,000 to 80,000 more people by the end of the century, as the lives lost to stronger heat outpace those saved from milder cold. 'The planet is getting hotter and more dangerous,' said Mr Guterres, who called for more action to stop climate change. 'No country is immune.' The Guardian
Metro
06-06-2025
- Metro
Spanish police cause uproar over photo of older women enjoying alfresco chat
A Spanish police force have faced a public backlash after asking residents not to sit on the pavement, then posting a photo of six older women enjoying an alfresco chat. Police in the small Andalucían town of Santa Fe requested that people refrain from putting chairs and tables outside their door, out of respect for neighbours and others using the pavement. Accompanying the post on X, was a photo of six older women sitting on chairs on a pavement in front of a typical Spanish looking home. The women are smiling and look like they're enjoying each others friendship. What police don't appear to have considered, was how protective Spanish people are of the tradition known as, 'tomando el fresco', which translates to taking the cool air. The ritual, seen up and down the country and in other Mediterranean countries, sees individuals or groups of friends, usually the older generation, take chairs and sit outside in evening as the air cools down. In their post, the police wrote: 'We know that putting chairs or tables outside the door is a tradition in many towns, but the publics road is regulated. 'If police ask you to remove them, do so out of respect and in the interests of coexistence. With civility and common sense, there's no harm done. Thank you for your cooperation!' The post on its own may have been better received, but the image of the six older women touched a nerve. Several people took to social media to vent, some with angry messages saying older people should not be stopped from from taking their tomando el fresco, while others took a more tongue in cheek approach. One wrote: 'Colleagues, if you need back-up for such a dangerous mission, I'll be there. 'We need to put an end to this serious issue – no more impunity for grannies who sit out to enjoy the fresh air. The full weight of the law should fall on them.' After the story was picked up by national media, the town's mayor Juan Cobo said people were misinterpreting the plea. Speaking on Cope radio he said: 'No one is going to stop our older people popping out of their houses and sitting down and enjoying the cool air. No way. 'This only applies to those people who head outdoors on the pretext of enjoying some fresh air and who then cut off the street and engage in unneighbourly activities such as having barbecues, singing and playing the guitar.' He said the the police were just reminding people to be considerate of others, especially 'people who have to get up for work at five or six in the morning and who have a right to their rest'. Cobo said Santa Fe residents would be 'totally safe in the knowledge that they can carry on cooling off outdoors', and criticised what he described as 'populist and sensationalistic' reporting. More Trending 'All this has been totally manipulated and its seems there's nothing more important news-wise on a national scale for some media than reporting that people are being stopped from enjoying the fresh air on their doorsteps in Santa Fe,' he said. 'That isn't true. We're just reminding people who are behaving in an uncivil way and disturbing people's sleep that they can't do that and that there's a law against it.' In 2021, the mayor of another Andalucían, Algar told El País that tomando el fresco should be added to Unesco's list ofintangible cultural heritage. 'My mother's 82 and she sits out on her street every day,' he said at the time. 'Some days, I finish work, pop down, take a seat and catch up on things. It's the nicest moment of the day.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Sunbed Wars 2025 arrives in Benidorm after holidaymakers 'stampede' for best loungers MORE: Your favourite places to eat in Europe that aren't the usual tourist traps MORE: British woman takes sunbed wars to 'new level' with cunning move
Irish Examiner
26-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Spain braces for late May heatwave with 40C forecast in south of country
Spain is bracing for another sweltering end to May, with the mercury in southern parts of the country set to hit 40C as high-pressure areas and a mass of hot, dry air bring temperatures more than 10C above the seasonal norm. The high temperatures come almost exactly three years after some areas of Spain experienced their hottest May since records began and the temperature at Seville airport reached 41C. 'The last week of May will see a high-temperature episode across a good part of the peninsula, with the kind of temperatures normally seen in high summer, especially from Wednesday,' said Rubén del Campo, a spokesperson for Spain's meteorological office, Aemet. 'In some southern parts of the peninsula, we could see maximum temperatures of more than 40C, and the temperature won't drop below 20C in that region or in Mediterranean areas. "We're talking about maximum temperatures that are between five and 10 degrees above normal for this time of year. In some areas, the temperatures will be more than 10 degrees above normal on Thursday.' Del Campo said the high temperatures were down to the presence of high-pressure areas over the peninsula — 'which guarantee stable weather with few clouds and a lot of sun' — and the arrival of a mass of dry, warm air over the peninsula from North Africa. He added that the most affected areas would be south-east Spain, its central region, and the Ebro Valley in the north-east of the country. Outlook Temperatures on the two hottest days this week — probably Thursday and Friday — are forecast to reach 35C in central and northern areas and 40C along the Guadalquivir River in Andalucía. The hot spell is forecast to last until at least Saturday, when atmospheric instability could bring clouds, dust clouds, and a lowering of temperatures. Spain recorded its highest ever temperature in August 2021, when the mercury in the Andalucían town of Montoro, near Córdoba, reached 47.4C. A 2022 Aemet study found that the arrival of 30C temperatures across Spain and the Balearic islands had come an average of 20 to 40 days earlier over the past 71 years. 'The summer is eating up the spring,' Del Campo told El País at the time. 'What's happening fits perfectly with a situation where you have a warmer planet,' he said, adding that the rise in temperatures was a 'direct and palpable [consequence] of climate change … The climate in Spain isn't the one we used to know. It's got more extreme.' The Guardian Read More Investigation into disappearance of Fiona Pender upgraded to murder
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Yahoo
Kidnapped Spanish man rescued using photo of steering wheel
Spanish police have rescued a man who was kidnapped and bundled into the boot of a car after he managed to alert his girlfriend by sending her a photo of the vehicle's steering wheel and a set of coordinates. On 23 January Policía Nacional officers in the Andalucían province of Málaga received a report that a man had been kidnapped two days earlier on the promenade of the town of Sabinillas. The man had been taken by a group of men travelling in two cars who were looking for information on the whereabouts of another man who had apparently swindled them out of €30,000 (£25,000) in a drug deal. Officers were also provided with videos of the victim, showing him face down and with a pistol at his head while he was asked where the other man was. Unknown to his captors, however, the kidnapped man managed to contact his friends and send his girlfriend a photograph of the steering wheel logo of the car he was travelling in. He also sent coordinates that led police to a street in Torre del Mar, a town along the coast from Málaga. 'Officers then headed immediately to the location, where they found a parked car that matched the make and model of the vehicle in the victim's photo,' the force said in a statement. 'They then discovered another vehicle in the same area, which matched one of the cars used in the kidnapping in Sabinillas.' A few hours later, police saw a man being taken from another nearby car and placed in the back of a different vehicle. 'Seeing that happen, officers began to follow the vehicle, which was finally intercepted on the A7 motorway towards Málaga,' the statement added. 'The victim, who was unharmed and in good health, was freed and four people were arrested. Fewer than 16 hours had passed between the report of the kidnapping and the rescue.' The force said four people had been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, belonging to a criminal organisation and illegal possession of firearms.
