
Catania is shrouded in a white mist, obscuring the horizon at sea, as if the earth were evaporating, as EL PAÍS arrives at the airport at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. The thermometer is already reading 35 degrees Celsius (95ºF), but that’s nothing compared to what is expected, or rather feared, throughout the day: that Sicily will surpass its own heat record, the European record of 48.8ºC (119.8ºF) recorded on August 11, 2021, in Floridia, a small town 65 kilometers from Catania, in the province of Syracuse. Back then, newspaper headlines were already stating “Hell is in Sicily,” and similar things, but the Italian meteorological services have warned that perhaps new hyperbole will be necessary this week, as a heat wave threatens to break the record. For now, the metaphor being used is an “African flare,” due to the torrid winds blowing from the continent, which are responsible for rising temperatures. In more technical terms, it’s a subtropical anticyclone, and it is expected to last until Saturday.
Nuestra fuente:EL PAÍS América Colombia: el periódico global… en EL PAÍS Publicado para Colombia