A weather station in Agadir, southern Morocco, recorded a temperature of 50.4°C on Friday, which is believed to be a new national record, the country’s General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM) announced on Sunday, AFP and News reported. .ro

According to the DGM, the previous record was set on July 13 (49.9°C) in Smara, a city in Western Sahara.

According to the national meteorological office, the temperature exceeded 50 degrees for the first time in Morocco.

Since the beginning of the summer, all of Morocco has been affected by a series of heat waves that have led to record temperatures. “This hot weather is caused by the rise of a mass of dry and warm air from the south, which caused a sharp rise in temperature, exceeding the monthly norm by 5-13 degrees, especially on Friday and Saturday,” the DGM explained. press statement.

A heat wave has caused forest fires in the past few days in the north of the country, near Tangier and further east in Taza province, AFP journalists on the ground reported. The fires, which were limited in scope but caused by strong winds, destroyed several hundred hectares of forest. So far, no casualties have been reported.

According to the European Copernicus Service, July 2023 largely broke the record for the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, by 0.33°C more than the previous record holder (July 2019).

For Morocco, July was the fourth warmest since 1961. However, the DGM predicts a slight decrease in the temperature in the north of the country in the coming days.