The danger of extreme weather can only be reduced

From the heat wave to severe floods; currently Europe is the continent of extremes.

Bad weather has brought destruction to many countries. Italy experienced one of the worst seasons in 60 years, and according to meteorologists, in some parts of the country the total rainfall has been 80 per cent below normal values.

In Portugal, over a thousand firefighters were mobilised for the extinction of forest fires in the provinces of Castello Branco and Santarem, which forced authorities to evacuate nearby villages.

Similar situations took place in France, Croatia and Albania as well. For experts, the problem is not so much drought over a period of time, but the repetition of these phenomena. In Italy, Portugal and France, the rainfall recorded during winter was 20 to 30 percent less than the average. Meanwhile, rising temperatures have favoured evaporating water from the earth.

“over the last 150 years, extreme phenomena were rare, but in the last three decades we've increasingly recorded with many such phenomena”, said Omar Baddur, chief of Klimateric Monitoring Data.

Experts believe that the main cause of extreme conditions is climate change. According to them, extreme phenomena in Europe will become normal unless immediate steps are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A European study suggests that during this century the threat of fires in the forests of our continent could double.