Pollution notice in Bizkaia due to the ‘heat dome’ effect
Bilbao suffers another day of intense heat. /
The powerful anticyclone that has brought extreme temperatures makes it difficult for pollution to disperse and trigger the presence of particles and ozone
Bizkaia is currently immersed in an alert due to intense heat but also due to pollution. Both phenomena are closely related, since an extreme anticyclonic situation is taking place in the upper layers of the atmosphere, which is preventing the gases harmful to health produced by traffic or industries from escaping and dissipating. The particles are concentrating, above all, in urban environments. Everything indicates that we would be facing what experts would describe as a ‘heat dome’: a wave marked by persistent high temperatures and fueled by a storm between the Canary Islands and Portugal and a strong anticyclonic ridge that sweeps the peninsula.
The air quality in the territory this Saturday is between bad and very bad due to the presence of pollution particles and ozone. The Basque Government warns that the situation will continue to be complicated until at least Monday night.
Bizkaia has woken up with six observation stations with the warning that very bad values for health are being recorded (three of them in Bilbao, Amorebieta, Sondika and Abanto). Another 13 (Muskiz, Santurtzi, Erandio, three from Bilbao, two from Basauri, Zalla, Lemoa, Durango, and Alonsotegi) warn that the situation is bad while in another three it is described as fair (Serantes, Mundaka and Urkiola). The air is only good in one station (Sestao) and very good in four more (Montorra, Zierbena, Barakaldo and Larrabetzu).
Map of air quality in Bizkaia at 11:00 this Saturday. /
In Bilbao, for example, the values of PM2.5 particles have skyrocketed, a poison that is closely related to traffic and is one of the most harmful. In the sensors located on María Díaz de Haro street, up to 67 micrograms per cubic meter have been counted, when the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that 15 not be exceeded. Last Sunday, just before the start of this episode of heat wave, these same meters showed values of 13.
Experts are now assessing this unusual heat wave, which will last eight days (temperatures will not loosen until Tuesday). There are those who openly state that what is known in meteorology as a ‘heat dome’ has occurred, a phenomenon characterized by the presence of high pressures at height and heat also on the surface, which causes permanent overheating air It’s like putting a lid on a pressure cooker.