Europe Swelters Under a Heat Wave Called ‘Lucifer’
People looking for relief from the heat in countries like France, Spain
and Italy grappled for just the right name for the phenomenon — and settled on “Lucifer.”
The waves of heat sent temperatures soaring to record highs for several days, caused
at least two deaths, kindled wildfires and drove tempers through the roof.
High temperatures this summer have brought punishing heat to regions in the United States like the Pacific Northwest
— where generations had shunned air-conditioning — reaching as high as 104 in Seattle and 107 in Portland, Ore.
However, no major incident was reported, and the continuing high temperatures are slightly milder than
that experienced in mid-July in Spain, when the temperature reached a record of almost 117 degrees in Córdoba.
In Puget-Théniers, a village about 25 miles northwest of Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes Department,
the national weather forecaster registered a record high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.
Scorching temperatures also caused dramatic weather breakdowns, including strong storms
that brought a whirlwind, as well as hail the size of tennis balls, injuring dozens of people across the country.
About half of Spain was placed under an emergency alert over the weekend
because of the heat wave, as forecasts predicted temperatures of up to 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Celsius).