The WMO carries out a rigorous assessment of all data, as well as the instruments and conditions under which they were recorded, before confirming a temperature record, which is why the value recorded in Sicily was only confirmed two years after the event.

“This careful assessment gives us confidence that our global temperature records are measured correctly,” explained American geographer Randall Cerveny, WMO rapporteur on climate and meteorological extremes.

Another expert, cited by CNN Portugal, revealed that “it is possible, and even likely, that even more severe extremes will occur in the future in Europe”. WMO experts are carrying out additional investigations, in particular the durability of Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which formed in Australia and hit southern Africa twice.