Natural

Wildfires are proving to be especially lethal again this year after two years of above-average rainfall that fostered lush vegetation which, upon drying in spring, ended up as fuel for the flames. More than half of Spain has been subjected so far this summer to high or extreme fire risk conditions, coinciding with a series of heatwaves that have created a terrible breeding ground that has overwhelmed the capacities of extinction teams.

The red alert (extraordinary health risk due to heat) will besiege areas of the southeast of the country this Thursday and, more specifically, the southern coast of Valencia and Alicante, as well as the Vega del Segura and the Guadalentín Valley, Lorca and Águilas, in Murcia, with temperatures ranging between 42 and 44°C. Extreme heat will mainly affect the peninsular east with high temperature warnings in eleven autonomous communities, with six of them on orange alert (significant danger) and five on yellow alert, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

The La Mierla fire (Guadalajara), which is already the largest recorded in Castilla-La Mancha having burned at least 30,000 hectares, has affected approximately a quarter of the Sierra Norte Natural Park. This protected area is one of the jewels of Castilla-La Mancha’s nature, an enclave of valuable forests and a habitat for wolves. Declared a natural park in 2011, this mountain range occupies 116,953 hectares in the northwest of the province of Guadalajara across 35 municipalities.

Spain will suffer its third heatwave this week so far this summer. Three episodes of very high temperatures in just six weeks. Faced with this unusual streak, some meteorologists are starting to talk about a new concept: “heatwave trains”, a succession of extreme events with hardly any respite and which reflects a change in climate patterns in Europe and, especially, in Spain.

The La Mierla fire (Guadalajara), which is already the largest recorded in Castilla-La Mancha having burned some 29,000 hectares, has affected approximately a quarter of the Sierra Norte Natural Park. This protected area is one of the jewels of Castilian-Manchegan nature, an enclave of valuable forests and a habitat for wolves. Declared a natural park in 2011, this mountain range occupies 116,953 hectares in the northwest of the province of Guadalajara across 35 municipalities.

Javier Martín Vide, director of the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona (located very close to Tibidabo), emphasizes the importance of this weather station, which recorded on July 8 the absolute record for the highest temperature in the city of Barcelona: 40.9ºC. Its value lies – he tells us – in the uninterrupted 112-year series of weather measurements, which makes this station a true thermometer of climate change.

An international team of scientists has made a discovery that researchers had been pursuing for almost 20 years: the identification of a new species of primate in the depths of the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, made possible by the sighting of two adult females and one male.

In June 2022, the residents of Legarda (Navarra) experienced the same nightmare that those in Los Gallardos (Almería) are living today. Extreme heat, low humidity, strong winds, a flame that seemed isolated, and hell. Although there were no fatalities, the forest fire burned 95% of the municipality. Three buildings were completely destroyed. The parish church suffered significant damage from the fire. And all the agricultural plots lost their crops. “In a matter of minutes, we saw how the fire reached the town,” recalls Silvestre Belzunegui, the town’s mayor.

Excessive heat causes up to about 1,000 deaths annually in the 36 municipalities of the Barcelona area, according to a study by the Institut Metròpoli for the Metropolitan Administration. The work has analyzed the impact of climate change on health during the hottest months, specifically between May 15 and October 15 in this territory during the period 2002-2022. This research calls for the implementation of adaptation policies aimed at the population during extreme heat episodes, especially when intense heat levels exceed 32 ºC.

Bombers de la Generalitat has been working since this morning against a vegetation fire declared at 12:45 in the municipality of Lladurs (Solsonès) affecting the Santa Eulàlia area, where the fire has been gaining intensity. However, around 17:00, the same Bombers reported that they have already managed to reduce the intensity of the fire, so they have begun to withdraw some of the resources assigned to this fire. The fire, Bombers adds, is surrounded so its capacity to spread has been reduced.