European heatwave: Horror map shows continent on fire

Parts of southern Europe and northwest Africa are set to swelter through record-breaking temperatures forecast in the coming days. Temperatures are set to surpass 48C in parts of Spain, France, Greece, Croatia and Turkey as residents are urged to take steps to stay cool.

One map, a satellite image recorded by a European Union satellite, showed land temperatures that were coloured red but then turned even darker — to black.

The map showed a land temperature — the temperature of the soil, rather than of the air — in the Extremadura region in Spain’s inner southwest hit a staggering 60C on Tuesday.

Huge swathes of Spain sweltered this week with air temperatures climbing as high as 45C, while overnight temperatures in much of the country did not drop below 25C. Temperatures in Majorca, an island off Spain’s coast, were as high as 37C at 4am on Wednesday.

In Italy, meteorologists have warned temperatures could climb as high as 48.8C. A red alert warning has been issued for 10 cities, including Rome, Bologna and Florence.

The Cerberus heatwave — named by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s Inferno — turned deadly on Tuesday after a man in his 40s collapsed in northern Italy.

Local media reported the 44-year-old worker was painting zebra crossing lines in the town of Lodi, near Milan, before he collapsed from the heat. He was taken to hospital where he later died.

“We are facing an unbearable heatwave,” Italian politician Nicola Fratoianni tweeted.

“Maybe it’s the case that in the hottest hours, all the useful precautions are taken to avoid tragedies like the one that happened today in Lodi.”

Several tourists enjoying an Italian summer vacation have collapsed from the heat, including a British man who toppled to the ground outside the Colosseum in Rome.

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

The heatwave is expected to bring yet more extreme conditions in the next few days.

The United Kingdom’s Met office says temperatures will peak on Friday, when large swathes of southern Europe are expected to see temperatures in the low- to mid-40s — and possibly higher.

The heat is likely to continue through the weekend. In Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, temperatures could reach 36C on Saturday — far higher than the city’s July average of 24C.

Temperature records were also broken this week in France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy.

Italian meteorologists have warned, after the present heatwave dies out, another will quickly follow.

A second heatwave, named Charon after the ancient ferryman who delivered souls to the underworld, is forecast to push temperatures back up towards 43C in Rome and 47C on the southern Italian island of Sardinia.

It comes close to Europe’s hottest-ever recorded temperature — 48.8C, recorded near Syracuse on the Italian island of Sicily in August 2021.

The heat has also hit northern Africa, where temperatures are forecast to soar past 50C in the coming days. Africa’s northernmost country of Tunisia has already endured record-breaking temperatures of up to 49C.

Temperatures in Benni Mellal, a city in central Morocco, hit a staggering 47.5C this week, while the mercury climbed to 48C in Biskra, Algeria.

The latest crisis comes as a new study revealed more than 60,000 people died in Europe as a result of the heat last year.

According to the ISGlobal Institute in Barcelona, 61,672 people died in Europe as a result of the 2022 summer, which was the continent’s hottest on record. Italy had the largest number of deaths attributable to the heat with 18,010, while Spain had 11,324 and Germany 8,173.

Earlier this week, the UN declared the first week of July Earth’s hottest week on record, based on early findings from the World Meteorological Organization.

“The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement.

Measuring global average temperatures is a complicated exercise and different organisations may produce different results, but early numbers suggested average global temperatures climbed higher than 17.2C on several days in early July, surpassing the previous daily record of 16.94C from August 2016.