2023-08-13 18:28:21
50.4°C. This is the maximum temperature just recorded by the weather station in Agadir, in southern Morocco. A temperature considered the new national record, according to the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM). The previous record dated back to July 13 and stood at 49.9 ° C, in Smara, a city in Western Sahara, according to the DGM.
This is the first time that recorded temperatures have exceeded 50 degrees in Morocco, according to the national meteorology.
Heat wave triggers forest fires
Since the beginning of the summer, the whole of Morocco has been plagued by a series of heat waves which have brought temperatures to record levels. “This scorching weather is due to the rise of a mass of dry and hot air from the South causing a significant rise in temperatures and exceeding the monthly normal by 5 to 13 degrees, in particular on Friday 11 and Saturday 12” , explained the DGM in a press release.
The heat wave has caused forest fires in recent days in the north of the country, near Tangier and further east in the province of Taza, according to AFP journalists on the spot. These fires, of limited scale but fueled by violent winds, damaged or destroyed several hundred hectares of forest cover. They have not had any casualties to date.
July 2023, the hottest month ever recorded on Earth
According to the European service Copernicus, the month of July 2023 largely broke the record for the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, with 0.33°C warmer than the month which held this title until now (July 2019).
As far as Morocco is concerned, July ranked fourth among the hottest July months since 1961. The DGM, however, predicts a slight drop in temperatures in the north of the Maghreb country in the days to come.
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