Portugal forest fires

[Snowyowl9]

A major forest fire sweeping through central Portugal has led to at least 62 fatalities, with 59 more people injured, Interior Ministry official Jorge Gomes said, adding that many were burnt to death in their cars while making a desperate attempt to flee.

I thought it looked hotter than normal last week.

https://www.rt.com/news/392821-portugal-deadly-forest-fires/

 

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

Awful, just awful.  Maybe the warning systems there are not as well-developed as in countries like Australia where such fires are more common?

[mb018538]

I think the main cause of the severity of this particular fire was obviously very hot and dry weather....but a dry thunderstorm with copious lightning ignited a lot of different fires.

[Blade]

portugal in the last 30years had been the country with most fires and most area burned and last year it had more area burned than all european coutries combined, of course there were warnings but it was over 40ºc that day and because of that weather a downburst also formed and helped spread the fire very fast. Every year is the same thing because we have the wrong trees and not enough control in winter of the forests.

Edited June 19, 2017 by Blade