Smoke billows from a wildfire approaching Krio Pigadi near Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, on Saturday. [Michael Varaklas/AP]
Greece and other Mediterranean countries must prepare for a new reality in wildfires, as climate change fuels more intense and unpredictable blazes across southern Europe, according to scientists.
The warning comes as Greece, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and, in Europe’s north, the UK battle major fires. Recent blazes in southwestern France highlighted the growing threat, with flames so intense they generated a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb), or “fire cloud”, a rare phenomenon in which a wildfire creates its own weather system.
Joe McNorton, a scientist at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), told Kathimerini that Mediterranean countries should be concerned about a “new era of wildfires,” marked by faster-spreading, more destructive fires that are increasingly difficult to contain.
He noted that high temperatures are only part of the equation. Wet winters or rainy springs can encourage vegetation growth, which later dries out during hot summers, creating abundant fuel for large fires. Research by ECMWF and the Copernicus program suggests such weather patterns are expected to become more common as the climate warms.
