A heat warning issued by Greece’s meteorological service was in place until 8pm on Thursday (13 June) with temperatures of 43C forecast in central and southern Greece, forcing the closure of the Acropolis on Wednesday afternoon.
Meteorologist Panos Giannopoulos told Greece’s state broadcaster ERT the weather – three consecutive days of 38C+ temperatures – would go down in history as Greece’s earliest summer heatwave.
Greece’s crisis and civil protection ministry has warned of a high fire risk in the country’s Attica region, near Athens, and people have been advised to work from home, where possible.
It comes as Rhodes was this week struck by a 4.9-magnitude earthquake, confirmed by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, while firefighters have battled wildfires in Paphos, Cyprus, where temperatures are nudging 45C.
Vassilis Kikilias, Greece’s civil protection minister, has shared several warnings from Greek authorities in recent days, including one from the country’s fire authority which on Thursday confirmed there had been 44 wildfires in the past 24 hours.
"We are facing an extremely difficult fire season, with our firefighters battling both wild and urban fires," he said in a post to the X social network, formerly Twitter, alluding to an "extremely dangerous" blaze in Kifissia.
"Today [Thursday 13 June] is even more difficult, as we expect strong winds in places and high temperatures, which will even reach 43C."
He added in a separate post: "We are no longer just talking about climate change, we are now talking about a climate crisis."
Wednesday’s wildfire in Paphos saw Greece deploy two firefighting aircraft, with support too from the Royal Jordanian air force. Amber and red weather warnings were in place in Cyprus on Thursday.
Southern Europe and the Med was beset by wildfires last summer, with Rhodes suffering some of the worst in its history. Tens of thousands of holidaymakers had to be evacuated last July in what proved to be the country’s largest-ever wildlife evacuation effort.
There were wildfires too last summer in southern Italy, particularly Sicily, as well as in Portugal, Croatia and France.
