Sicily records 48.8 degrees Celsius in what could be the highest temperature ever in Europe | world News

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Sicily has reported the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe – with meteorologists urging caution about that number.

Syracuse, on the southeast coast of the Italian island, saw temperatures of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, according to the Sicily Agricultural and Meteorological Information Service (SIAS).

The highest temperature ever recorded on the European continent is 48 °C (118.4 °F), recorded in Athens in 1977.

The temperature in Sicily has yet to be independently confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which will need to check the registry in order for it to become a new European temperature record.

It’s “suspicious, so we won’t make any immediate decision,” Randy Cervini, the agency’s representative, told weather records.

“It doesn’t seem terribly reasonable,” Cervini added. “But we won’t rule it out.”

WMO spokeswoman Sylvie Castonjoy also urged caution: “Climatological phenomena and extreme weather are often teased and mischaracterized as ‘records’ before they are thoroughly investigated and properly validated.”

But the currently near-standard high-pressure system over the Mediterranean could produce unprecedented heat somewhere, according to meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections.

He said that North Africa flirts with ever-higher temperatures.

On its Facebook page, SIAS said it was the highest temperature recorded in the entire network since it was installed in 2002.

The Italian Air Force’s meteorological service said it had not recorded temperatures approaching that high on Wednesday. But she said her stations are in other locations, so differences are to be expected.

Commenting on the cited figure, the mayor of Syracuse, Francesco Italia, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that the record “worries us”.

“We have been devastated by the fires and our ecosystem – one of the richest and most expensive in Europe – is at risk.

“We are in a complete state of emergency.”

A heat wave driven by hot air from North Africa has spread across large parts of the Mediterranean in the past few days.

It contributed to the outbreak of massive forest fires that left dozens dead in Italy, Turkey and Algeria.

Firefighters said on Twitter that more than 3,000 firefighting operations were carried out in Sicily and Calabria in the past 12 hours. Seven planes were called to put out the flames from above.

Huge wildfires have also ravaged parts of Greece for a week, destroying homes and forcing many to evacuate.

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