Andalusia is used to dealing with heat, but the “exceptional and unusual” rise in mercury that is being experienced this week is more typical of summer than spring, when the community should have an average of about 23 degrees, compared to almost 40 forecast by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in the Guadalquivir valley for Thursday and Friday.
The culprit is an African air mass that is going to cause the highest temperatures on “these dates in, at least, the last 43 years,” explains Rubén Del Campo, spokesman for Aemet. Specifically in the south of the peninsula, they could be overcome in up to 15 degrees from the mean of normality.
Córdoba and Seville will surpass their own thermal records on Wednesday, since they will touch 37 degrees, when their historical maximums registered in April have been 34 and 35.4 degrees respectively. “This gives an idea of ​​the extraordinary nature of the episode, since these records can be broken widely,” says Del Campo.
From the Córdoba City Council they indicate to La Vanguardia that “for the moment there are no exceptional measures contemplated” waiting to see how the meteorological situation evolves, although they do not rule out that, if the extreme heat continues, the Heat Wave plan could be activated for vulnerable people and groups at risk, which provides shelter during the hours when temperatures are higher.
But the worst is yet to come. “It cannot be completely ruled out that in the Guadalquivir valley they can reach 40ºC” and “even if we focus on that value for its symbolism, already exceeding 38ºC this month would be something absolutely extraordinary, (…) something unusual and very prominent”, analyzes the Aemet expert.
The minimums, which are the burning nail to cling to on hot days, will also rise throughout the week, causing the nights to be tropical, especially in AlmerÃa, Jaén or Málaga.
In Andalusia there will be no truce until Sunday at the earliest, although temperatures will begin to drop on Saturday, they will still exceed 35 degrees while on the last day of the week, despite the drop in the thermometer, they will continue to exceed 30 degrees.
Children are one of the most vulnerable groups and on many occasions, educational centers are not adapted to these temperatures, since such extreme heat usually reaches the end of the course, and not at the beginning of the last term.
At the moment, the educational centers adapt as they can and from the Ministry of Education there is no concrete measure. Schools and institutes have the possibility of changing the schedules of the subjects to better adapt to the heat (avoiding, for example, giving physical education late in the morning), they will be able to move from classrooms to cooler areas of the center (as gyms tend to be for example) and assess the postponement of extracurricular activities such as those related to sports, but this depends on each center, according to what RocÃo BejÃnez told La Vanguardia, from the board of directors of the Provincial Federation of Associations of Mothers and Fathers of Students ( fampa).
From the Fampa they denounce that “the Ministry is not applying the bioclimatization law”, a text that “could solve the problem of high temperatures”, for which many families of the School of Heat movement fought and that “has remained in a drawer”.
The extremely high temperatures and the situation of extreme drought favor fires, which is why the Junta de AndalucÃa has extended the suspension of all types of agricultural burning until at least May 8.
The head of the Ministry of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, reminds citizens to “extreme precautions given the high temperatures that are reached these days”.
The Infoca, the Andalusian Forest Fire Extinction Operational Service, warns in its networks of this extension of burning and fires in recreational areas, even if they are spaces enabled for this purpose.
In addition, it calls for prudence due to the high risk of fire due to the heat and the lack of precipitation.
From the Andalusian Emergency Service 061 they confirm to this newspaper that “in Seville the requests for assistance related to high temperatures have increased compared to previous weeks in these first days of the fair, most of them due to syncope and fainting”, without However, “in the rest of the provinces there is nothing significant,” say the same sources.
However, the peak of heat in Andalusia has not yet been reached, so the Minister of Health, Catalina GarcÃa, assures that “it is a problem because the temperatures are not normal for these dates and also with parties and pilgrimages “, so it recommends” to be well hydrated, not to be in direct exposure to the sun in the central hours of the day, wear light clothing and protect ourselves with sun creams.
GarcÃa has focused on vulnerable people, “the Responde Health service is also going to have to advance their advice, those proactive calls they make to the elderly, as well as the telecare service,” he explains.
