Fires in Portugal: Tourists flee Odemira as wildfire inferno spreads in 46C heat

More than 1,000 firefighters are battling a series of wildfires in Portugal as it and neighbouring Spain experience several days of extreme summer heat, with temperatures in many areas rising above 40 degrees Celsius (104F).

On Monday, the city of Santarem, about 80km northeast of the capital, Lisbon, set the year’s highest temperature at 46.4C (115.5F). Temperatures are forecast to fall nationwide from today, though they will mostly remain above 30C (86F).

High temperatures and strong winds continue to hamper efforts to control wildfires raging in Portugal that have scorched thousands of hectares and forced the evacuation of about 1,400 people.

The wildfires, which started on Saturday in the municipality of Odemira in Alentejo region, have since spread south towards the Algarve, one of Portugal’s top tourist destinations.

Jose Ribeiro, regional commander of the emergency and civil protection authority (ANPC), said weather conditions were expected to remain challenging.

“It is a worrying situation,” Mr Ribeiro told reporters on Tuesday, adding there were two active fronts, with one heading to Monchique, a lush green mountainous area in the Algarve’s countryside.

The wildfires in Portugal have grown so big they’re visible from space.

This satellite image released by the European space agency Copernicus shows the size and extent of the raging fires.

Tuesday’s heat in Odemira was expected to reach highs of 36C, with 30C predicted on Wednesday.

However, the forecast shows hope of respite elsewhere amidst the recent heat, with the Met Office forecasting highs of 29C across Lisbon and 27C in Faro on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, temperatures are also expected to dip to highs of 28C in Lisbon and Faro, with another uptick in temperature anticipated towards the end of the week. On Thursday and Friday, Lisbon is expected to reach highs of 31C and 32C, 32C and 33C in Faro.

My colleague Eleanor Noyce has more in this report:

Following wildfires near Cascais last month, Portugal is once again being hit by raging flames.

This time, blazes have broken out near the popular holiday region of the Algarve in southern Portugal. The fire started on Saturday 5 August in the Odemira area north of the Algarve, and since then has swept south.

If you’re booked to travel to Portugal, is it still safe to go? And what are your rights if you cancel a holiday? Here’s what we know so far.

Our travel editor Helen Coffey has this advice for holidaymakers:

While the cause of the blazes in Rhodes last month have not officially been identified, local authorities have suggested at least some could have been the work of arsonists.

But climate science and fire risk specialists say it’s undeniable that rising temperatures and prolonged heatwaves mean the fires in the Mediterranean country have spread faster and burned over larger areas.

My colleague Maanya Sachdeva reports:

While scorching temperatures are currently being recorded in the Iberian Peninsula, perhaps the most alarming global climate event is occurring on the far side of the world in Antarctica, where sea ice formation has hit a record low – and by a colossal margin.

It is now deep winter in the southern hemisphere; most of Antarctica is plunged into darkness for several months and the vast tracts of sea ice that fringe the continent’s coast are usually expanding out over the open ocean.

But this year, sea ice formation has dropped off a cliff. The continent is currently missing an area of ice larger than Greenland.

“It’s not just a record, it’s a ‘hit out of the ball park’ type thing,” says Caroline Holmes, a polar climate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey. “It really is very different.”

Harry Cockburn has more in this long read:

The UK’s Met Office has also issued information on the weather in Spain, Portugal and Africa as wildfires rage across some of Portugal’s most popular tourist hotspots.

“Temperatures have increased across Spain, Portugal and North Africa in recent days, widely into the mid 30s C, if not into the low to mid 40s C”, the national forecaster tweeted. “The heat is expected to extend further north and east by midweek, before temperatures return closer to average by the weekend.”

As of Monday, Portugal’s minister of internal administration confirmed that “for now” the government will not declare an alert.