Sicily soars to 120 degrees, potentially setting Europe all-time heat record. [View all]
Amid a sweltering summer in which scores of long-standing heat records have fallen across the Northern Hemisphere, Europe may have just registered its highest temperature observed.
A weather station in Syracuse on the island of Sicily, Italy recorded a blistering temperature of 119.8 degrees Wednesday, which would establish a new European heat record if verified by the World Meteorological Organization. The previous verified European record of 118.4 degrees was established in Greece on July 10, 1977.
The extreme heat comes during what will probably be the most intense and lasting heat wave of this summer for the island, according to the Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SAIS), which operates the station that posted the record-breaking temperature.
Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks weather records around the globe, told the Capital Weather Gang that the weather station that recorded the temperature used high-quality instrumentation and is well-maintained.
Syracuse is a city in southeast Sicily, known for its ancient ruins, and is home to about 120,000 people. Excessively hot conditions covered much of the island Wednesday, with widespread high temperatures exceeding the century mark in its central and southern areas.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/08/11/europe-heat-wave-record-sicily/?
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