Meteorologists are forecasting that this month will prove to be the hottest August in Lithuania’s history, as the country is braced for another heatwave.
“August is very hot this year. It may even be the hottest one in this century and one of the hottest in history in general,” Gytis Valaika, a spokesman for the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (LHMT), told BNS on Monday.
The third heatwave this year and the second this month is likely to be recorded this week and last until the end of August.
The first heatwave this year was recorded from June 25 to July 2 and the second from August 13-19.
According to Valaika, the two events were similar in duration and spread.
According to the LHMT, the second heatwave was observed for the longest period of seven days in north-western Lithuania at the Akmenė, Kretinga and Skuodas meteorological stations.
The heat spell lasted six days in Dotnuva, and five days each in Birštonas, Jonava, Joniškis, Kaišiadorys, Pakruojis and Mažeikiai. Elsewhere, the heat lasted three or four days.
In some areas, temperatures above 30C were reached only on one or two consecutive days, so only a heat phenomenon was recorded there.
In Laukuva and the north-eastern part of the country, neither heat nor heat events were recorded, as the 30C threshold was not reached during the period.
According to Valaika, a national heatwave is recorded when temperatures in more than a third of the country’s reaches 30C for three or more days.
Increasingly many heat events have been observed in the country in recent years, Valaika says, which is a result of global climate change.
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