Europe heatwave: Hot weather sweeps across southern Europe (2024)

A heatwave continues to sweep across parts of Europe, with potential record-breaking temperatures in the next few days.

Temperatures are expected to surpass 40C (104F) in parts of Spain, France, Greece, Croatia and Turkey.

They could reach 48C in parts of Italy, becoming "potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe", says the European Space Agency.

A red alert warning is in place for 10 cities, including Florence and Rome.

Last month was the hottest June on record, according to the EU's climate monitoring service Copernicus.

Extreme weather resulting from warming climate is "unfortunately becoming the new normal", the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned.

Periods of intense heat occur within natural weather patterns, but scientists say, external that globally they are becoming more frequent, more intense and are lasting longer due to global warming.

Tourists in Europe have been impacted by the heatwave. In Athens, the Greek Red Cross has deployed teams to the Acropolis to look after visitors - saying many get nauseous and dizzy due to the heat.

"That is why with the leaflets we try to inform them where in the municipality of Athens there are places with air condition in order to go inside," said Marina Stamati, a representative for the organisation.

Earlier this week, a man in his forties died from the heat after collapsing in northern Italy - while several visitors to the country have collapsed from heatstroke, including a British man outside the Colosseum in Rome.

People have been advised to drink at least two litres of water a day and to avoid coffee and alcohol, which are dehydrating.

Maria and Gloria, two Australian tourists on the streets of Rome, told the BBC they were "really surprised" by the heat and that they were trying not to go out in the middle of the day.

Italian tourists Andrea Romano and Michele La Penna told the BBC their hometown of Potenza, in the Apennine mountains, has "more humane temperatures" than Rome.

"We need to start doing something about climate change. We need to be more responsible. The damage is already done. We need to do something about it. But not only the government… It all starts from people. Each of us needs to do something: use less plastic, don't use the AC, use electric cars," said Andrea.

The Cerberus heatwave - named by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante's Inferno - is expected to bring more extreme conditions in the next few days.

Spain has been sweltering in temperatures of up to 45C (113F). The Andalusian regional government has started a telephone assistance service for people affected by the heat.

On Thursday, the European Space Agency said temperatures could reach 48C on the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia: "potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe".

The UK's national weather service, the Met Office, earlier said it expected temperatures to peak on Friday. BBC Weather says large swathes of southern Europe could see temperatures in the low to mid 40s - and possibly higher.

But as Cerberus dies out, Italian weather forecasters are warning that the next heatwave - dubbed Charon after the ferryman who delivered souls into the underworld in Greek mythology - will push temperatures back up towards 43C (109F) in Rome and a possible 47C (116F) on the island of Sardinia.

It isn't just Europe that is hot.

This summer has seen temperature records smashed in parts of Canada and the US as well as across a swathe of Asia including in India and China.

Sea temperatures in the Atlantic have hit record highs while Antarctic sea ice is at the lowest extent ever recorded.

And it is going to get hotter.

A weather pattern called El Niño is developing in the tropical Pacific. It tends to drive up temperatures by around 0.2C on average.

That may not sound much but add in the roughly 1.1C that climate change has pushed average temperatures up by worldwide and we are nudging perilously close to the 1.5C threshold the world has agreed to try and keep global temperatures below.

Let's set things in a historic context to give us some perspective.

The first week of July is reckoned to have been the hottest week since records began.

But scientists can use the bubbles of air trapped in ancient Antarctic ice to estimate temperatures going back more than a million years.

That data suggests that that last week was the hottest week for some 125,000 years.

It was a geological period known as the Eemian when there were hippopotamuses in the Thames and sea levels were reckoned to be some 5m (16.4ft) higher.

A new study says 61,672 people died in Europe as a result of the heat last year, external. ISGlobal Institute in Barcelona - which researches global health - said Italy had the most deaths that could be attributable to the heat, with 18,010, while Spain had 11,324 and Germany 8,173.

The fear is that the heat could cause many more deaths this summer.

Cities in Spain with the highest risk of deaths caused by the heat are Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca and Bilbao, according to ISGlobal's research.

A heatwave is a period of hot weather where temperatures are higher than is expected for the time of year.

Experts say periods of exceptionally hot weather are becoming more frequent and climate change means it is now normal to experience record-breaking temperatures.

At present there is no indication the heat in southern Europe will reach the UK any time soon - with the UK remaining in cooler, Atlantic air throughout next week, according to BBC Weather's Darren Bett.

The UK is experiencing a July that has been slightly wetter than normal, with temperatures that feel rather low. But this is mostly in contrast to the weather in the UK in June, which was the warmest on record by a considerable margin - something which, according to the Met Office, bore the "fingerprint of climate change".

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