Spain hits 108F but experts say Europe will NOT have hottest day EVER today: Beaches are packed as Iberian Plume kills three, glaciers melt in the Alps and people SLEEP in supermarket refrigerator aisles
Europe faces hottest day ever with the killer Spanish heatwave already having claimed three people’s lives
Across the continent dangerous highs of 118F are expected in parts of central Spain as heatwave continues
Eight locations, in central, south and east of Portugal have already broken local temperature records
By NATALIA PENZA and JESSICA GREEN
DAILYMAIL.COM
4 August 2018
Spain has hit 108F (42C) with the southern city of Córdoba reaching the highest temperature in Europe as the continent continues to face the killer Spanish heatwave which has already claimed the lives of three people.
Highs of 114F could be reached in Portugal but the current record of 118F for the continent is unlikely to be broken, the Met Office has said.
Spain has issued health warnings in 41 of the country’s 50 provinces and eight locations, in central, south and east of Portugal have already broken local temperature records due to the Iberian Plume.
While a Finnish supermarket in Helsinki’s Pohjois-Haaga district is trying to beat the impact of the weather by inviting 100 customers to sleep in its air-conditioned store.
Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat quoted operations manager Marika Lindfors saying the idea for the sleepover came from customers who ‘told me half-jokingly that it’d be a great thing to be able to sleep at a cool supermarket’.
Linfors said: ‘We always try to respond to client feedback, so why not here, too?’
Apartments and homes in Finland are equipped to deal with the extreme cold and damp typical of the Nordic region, but few have air conditioning.
Temperatures in Finland reached 86F this week, with the August average in the country normally 66.2F.
The small Budakeszi game reserve outside the Hungarian capital Budapest said it was helping its animals cope with the heat with iced fruit.
Temperatures in south-west France could also rise to the high 80s. The mercury is being driven higher by a hot air mass moving north from Africa, bringing dust from the Sahara Desert.
The next few days could see the hottest temperatures recorded in continental Europe. Luke Miall, a Met Office meteorologist, said the record is 48C (118F) in Athens, Greece, in 1977.
The Rest…HERE
