These are difficult months for the African continent, which has reached the highest temperatures ever: in Mali it reached 49°C.
L’Africa it has always been synonymous with “hot”, but the great continent is also suffering the effects of the climate crisis. Since March, record temperatures have been recorded with values never seen before. Lastly, the worrying temperature in Kayes, in the west of Mali, where at the beginning of April it would have reached 48.5°C.
Even in Africa it is record hot
It seems absurd to talk about record heat on the African continent, but it is being recorded there too temperatures that had never been so high. These are data collected as early as last March and which have surpassed every possible previous record, which is absolutely positive news and a clear wake-up call for the climate crisis which is not sparing any place (we saw this with the hottest January ever and with the temperatures recorded in Bologna, to give two examples).
We knew that 2024 would be a “hot” year, but Africa has exceeded all expectations. Data in hand, in the city of Garoua in Cameroon the 45.5°C while in Ghana the temperature reached 43.8°C, again in March. Other record temperatures were recorded in the capital of Burkina Faso, the city of Ouagadougou, which reached 44.1°C, in Niger with temperatures rising up to 45°C but also in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia. No region has been spared from the dramatic rise in temperatures.
Even the African islands came close to record values as in the case of Mauritius, where it reached 35.1°C during the day with a minimum of 27.5°C at nightthe hottest in history.
In Kayes in Mali reached almost 49°C
“Records have been broken in almost every country in Africa, from north to south and from west to east. Nothing like this has ever happened anywhere in the world in the climate history of our time,” said climate scientist Maximiliano Herrera. Experts believe that this dramatic rise in temperatures in Africa, from north to south, is essentially due to the combination of two factors. On one side theeffect of El Niño while on the other that of the increase in temperatures of the Earth’s atmosphere, which have already well exceeded the critical threshold.
But if the temperatures recorded in March were worrying, those in Mali in April left everyone speechless. At the city of Kayes it is up to the (negative) record, having reached 48.5°C last April 5th. For Kayes it is the hottest period of the year but never before had the thermometer recorded such a value. The situation is evidently worrying and it is no coincidence that local authorities have decided to take action as far as possible, for example by reducing the mandatory hours of study and work and recommending avoiding carrying out physical activities (especially heavy ones) during the day. The night is no different, with temperatures currently unable to drop below 30°C, preventing the inhabitants from finding even a minimum of relief from the torrid daylight hours.
