This weekend in Greece “risks being the hottest in 50 years” in July, a meteorologist warned on Friday on a public television station, with 44C in Athens and 45C in Thessaly expected on Sunday, while the country is gripped by a heat wave that will last next week, AFP reported.

Strong heat in GreecePhoto: Petros Giannakouris/AP/Profimedia

According to the national meteorological service EMY, at midday on Friday, Attica, in the Athens region, recorded 41°C, while Thessaly (central) reached 44°C.

A man died

On the island of Evia, a 46-year-old man died on Friday after being hospitalized with a “body temperature of 40 degrees,” news.ro said.

“The possible cause of death is cardiac and respiratory arrest due to exposure to very high temperatures,” Halkida Hospital announced.

Sunday is the worst day, with temperatures reaching 44°C in Athens and 45°C in Thessaly.

“This weekend risks becoming the hottest July in the last 50 years,” said meteorologist Panagiotis Giannopoulos of the public television station ERT.

Strong heat

“The temperature in Athens will be above 40C for six or seven days, until the end of July,” an unusually long period even for a European capital accustomed to summer heat, he said.

The same opinion is held by the meteorologist of the private television company Mega Yannis Kallianos, who classified this heat wave as “an endless and powerful heat wave”.

“According to the latest forecasts, the heat wave may last until next Thursday and Friday, July 27 and 28,” he added.

On Sunday and Monday, gusts of wind from the north with a speed of up to 60 kilometers per hour may contribute to the occurrence of fires, the expert warns.

All archaeological sites in Greece, including the Acropolis of Athens, remain closed during the hottest hours of the day until Sunday, according to the culture ministry.

Call for remote work

The Ministry of Labor urged employers to give priority to remote work, and the Ministry of Health recommended avoiding unnecessary trips in the middle of the day.

“Three difficult days await us. We have to be careful,” ERT Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias warns.

According to the National Observatory in Athens, in June 2007, the Greek capital recorded an absolute heat record of 44.8°C.

The absolute record in Greece was recorded in July 1977 – 48°C – in Eleusis, near Athens.