Air conditioners working in full swing, beaches brimming with swimmers and people trapped in the concrete jungle of big cities are taking shelter in cooler indoor spaces like shopping malls. These are scenes from Turkey, which is sweating out another heatwave in what experts are saying is the hottest summer the country has faced in 47 years. The country is a victim of sweltering weather that has taken hold of most of Europe, where wildfires rage on, asphalt-laden highways are melting and nuclear reactors have been forced to shut down.
Adil Tek, the head meteorologist of Kandilli, an Istanbul-based observatory that serves as one of leading observation stations for weather forecast, says the temperature increase is not limited to Turkey. He explained that the rise in temperatures is a trend that has been gradually increasing all around the planet.
"We will see higher temperatures in the coming years, up to 40-45 Celsius degrees in (western cities) İzmir and Aydın and for Istanbul (the country's most populated city), temperatures up to 40 degrees are highly likely," he said.
The average temperature between January and July this year was 15 degrees.
This extraordinary increase in temperatures is linked to global climate change, Tek explained, adding that the greenhouse effect has contributed significantly to the rapid rise in temperatures.
