Story at a glance
- The temperature of nearly 120 degrees was verified by the SIAS, the agricultural-meteorological information service in Italy.
- If the temperature is confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, it will become a new European record.
- The current record was set in Athens in 1977 when temperatures hit 118.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Europe may have just registered its hottest temperature on record.
An Italian weather monitoring station in Siracusa, Sicily, recorded temperatures of up to 119.8 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday as the Mediterranean and northern Africa are in the midst of an intense heat wave. The temperature of nearly 120 degrees was verified by SIAS, an agricultural-meteorological information service in Italy.
If the temperature is confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization it will become a new European record. The previous record was set in Athens in 1977 when temperatures hit 118.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ouch! Europe has just witnessed its highest temperature in recorded history.
+48.8°C at Siracusa, Sicily (IT) pic.twitter.com/seFHDMiM4f
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) August 11, 2021
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The potential record comes as wildfires have been raging across southern Italy over the past several weeks. Sicily and Sardinia have been hit particularly hard and many have been forced to evacuate.
In the U.S., unprecedented heat has also slammed the Pacific Northwest and many western states are in the throes of extreme drought and an unusually active wildfire season.
The extreme weather events fall in line with the release of a sobering United Nations climate report warning of the certain devastation of human-caused climate change.
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