The start of summer in Europe is accompanied by an increase in temperatures in the south. Physiology experts explain that, when temperatures exceed 40 °C, we enter the “risk zone” in which extreme precautions must be taken.
Winds from North Africa are raising temperatures in the sure of Europain countries like Italia and the balkans. Eight Italian cities have issued heat alerts, and experts fear this could be the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record of 48.8°C in 2021.
In Spain thermometers also begin to rise, coinciding with the official start by one summer that the State Meteorological Agency predicts warmer than usual.
The heat is drastically affecting daily life in Europe, and cities across the continent are trying to adapt to rising temperatures. In London, physiology professor Lewis Halsey and his research group at the University of Roehampton measure what happens to our bodies when we suffer. heat exhaustion.
“If the 40 °Cwe will enter a area of risk. Some people will be fine and some won’t. But this is where problems start to arise. The body’s organs may begin to fail or at least begin to function less optimally. The reasons for this may be what is called protein denaturation. “Then the shape of the proteins starts to change and some of them start to separate.”
Combining heat and humidity It also has its complications. When there is already too much water in the environment due to humidity, our sweat has nowhere to go and it drains from our body instead of evaporatingso the ability to reduce body heat is reduced.
Halsey explains in this sense that “the main way in which our body loses heat or stops increasing temperature in a hot environment is through sweating“, which is a quality that places humans “among the best, in terms of sweat secretion, in the animal kingdom.”
Last week, las greek authorities They were forced to close the Acropolis when temperatures exceeded 40 °C, and in Türkiye Temperatures on the coast were 12 degrees above seasonal standards.
Spain expects warmer than normal temperatures in summer
In Spainthe official start of astronomical summer last night is accompanied this Friday by a increase in temperaturesand the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) published a spring balance on Wednesday, which described the temperatures in the country as a whole during the season as warm as a whole, with 0.7 °C above the average for the period between 1991 and 2020.
And, although in June the heat has not reached very oppressive levels in much of Spain so far, the summer is accompanied by bad omens, with the AEMET warning that the months of July, August and September will be “very likely” warmer than normal Throughout the national territory.
