Wildfires in a heated Europe + + + +

The map shows the extent of wildfires in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy in July 2026.

Wildfires have been a growing problem in southern Europe. This summer (2026) has been particularly bad. A mix of prolonged heatwaves and little rain have fueled the potential of wildfires arising. Dryness lets vegetation spread ablaze at alarming speed.

It was mapped using warmth detection data from NASA’s MODIS satellite. The data is filtered to remove noise and cross-checked against vegetation data from ESA WorldCover to identify real vegeation fires. Only fires with connection points are shown to avoid showing isolated fires that are likely to be false positives.

The map was published in Aftenposten on July 28, 2026.