Eight places in Portugal broke local temperature records Friday as a wave of heat from North Africa swept across the Iberian peninsula — and officials predicted the scorching temperatures could get even worse over the weekend.
Temperatures built to around 45 C Friday in many inland areas of Portugal, and were expected to peak at 47 C in some places Saturday. Large sections of Portugal are on red alert on the Civil Protection Agency’s danger scale.
The highest temperature recorded Thursday, when the heat began to rise, was 45.2 C near Abrantes, a town 150 kilometres northeast of the capital, Lisbon, the country’s weather agency IPMA said.
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Portugal’s highest recorded temperature was 47.4 C in 2003. Emergency services have issued a
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