Kiwis in Portugal:
heat normal, this feels more serious
As temperatures soar across Europe in a heatwave that has killed hundreds, Kiwis in Portugal have described the extreme temperatures as ‘‘scary’’ and a heads up that we need to manage the looming climate catastrophe.
Portugal experienced a national high of 47C last week, while coastal regions in France are experiencing 40C and above. The blistering heat has been described by one French meteorologist as ‘‘a heat apocalypse’’.
Genista Jurgens is 40 weeks pregnant and due to give birth at any moment.
Temperatures in the Baixo Alentejo, where she lives, are regularly over 35C during a normal summer, but they’ve now had two weeks of over 40C, unusually hot for July.
Generally, she stays indoors between the hours of 11am and 4pm, and takes a nap with her toddler in the afternoon.
Jurgens doesn’t have airconditioning. Window shutters are down all day, meaning the house is dark, and not opened up until nighttime once the temperature drops below 20C.
Cold showers and long dips in the municipal pool help the family cool off.
Locals are used to high temperatures, but not ‘‘long periods’’ of extreme weather.
Jurgens describes it as a ‘‘more intense dry heat where the air doesn’t move’’.
‘‘This has made me feel the urgency of climate change for sure, and I hope people see what is happening and freak out because it is pretty scary,’’ she said.
Jurgens is also concerned about the scarcity of water – two thirds of Portugal is already in extreme drought, and summer is yet to peak.
‘‘These are super serious problems that are only going to get worse. We really need to think of ways to manage the catastrophe that is coming, like planting more trees,’’ she said, while avoiding monocultural plantations like those of cork and almond.
Originally from Hokianga, she remembers summers in the north as being ‘‘brutally dry – but this feels more serious’’.
‘‘I can’t remember growing up with the threat of wildfires.’’
They’ve also been getting dust storms from the Sahara which cover everything in orange powder – streets, gardens and cars.
Jurgens avoids spending too much time outside when winds bring the storms up because you shouldn’t breathe the dust in when that happens, she said.
Nicky Campbell-Allen lived in Portugal for four years, and has had to work outdoors through the highest temperatures as she plies her trade as a tour guide in Braga.
‘‘I don’t think that Kiwis would really appreciate just how hot it can get,’’ Campbell-Allen said.
‘‘I certainly did not experience this back home.’’
She does her best to keep tourists out of the sun and to find shady spots for them to sit and talk, a strategy she says ‘‘has certainly been appreciated’’. She also plans water stops to keep everyone hydrated.
Her other job is pet sitting: moving into the homes of friends to look after their animals while the owners are on holiday.
Fortunately, her friends had bought an air-con unit before leaving. Campbell-Allen also has an air-con that she uses in her flat for her cat Lilly. Her apartment is at the top of the building, gets all day sun, has a sloping roof and gets ‘‘incredibly hot’’ in summer.
Campbell-Allen said it had been very difficult to sleep. There have been forest fires in the area, with skies filled with smoke and ash.
The upside from the heatwave was the care and concern shown by locals and foreigners for each other.
‘‘Here in Braga . . . we check on the older people, but also on our friends, just as everyone did with Covid. It is a very collective and caring city,’’ she said.
‘‘This has made me feel the urgency of climate change . . . I hope people see what is happening and freak out . . . it is pretty scary.’’
Genista Jurgens