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The Italian government has advised anyone in areas covered by red alerts to avoid direct sunlight for most of the day.
Southern Europe will continue to face sweltering heat next week as an intense heatwave shows no signs of abating.
Italy, Spain and Greece have already been experiencing high temperatures for several days.
The Italian Health Ministry has issued a red alert for 16 cities, including Rome, Bologna and Florence, for the weekend.
The heatwave is expected to continue until next week, with 48°C possible in Sardinia, according to Italian media.
Such a temperature would, however, be lower than the European record of 48.8°C (119.8°F) – recorded in Sicily in August 2021.
The Italian weather service said Sardinia would be at the “epicenter” of next week’s heatwave – which meteorologists have dubbed Charon, after the ferryman who delivered souls to the underworld in Greek mythology.
“Temperatures will peak between July 19 and 23 – not only in Italy but also in Greece, Turkey and the Balkans. Several local heat records in these regions may well be broken on these days,” said the Italian meteorologist and climatologist Giulio Betti. the BBC.
The Italian government has advised anyone in areas covered by Saturday’s red alerts to avoid direct sunlight between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and to take particular care of the elderly or vulnerable.
In Rome, tour guide Felicity Hinton, 59, told the BBC that rising temperatures combined with overcrowding made navigating the city “nightmare”.
“It’s still hot in Rome, but it’s been going on for much longer than usual,” she said.
“My tour guide friends and I are extremely stressed. People are passing out on tours and there are ambulances outside everywhere.”
Rome resident Elena, 62, told the BBC that she had noticed a “marked change” in summer temperatures since around 2003, and that they had increased exponentially since then.
Meanwhile, Greece has reached temperatures of 40°C or more in recent days. The Acropolis of Athens – the country’s most popular tourist attraction – was closed during the hottest hours of Friday and Saturday to protect visitors.
Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands regional government, said at least 12 houses had been destroyed and attributed the rapid spread of the fire “to the wind, the climatic conditions as well as the heatwave we are experiencing.”
Periods of intense heat occur as part of natural weather patterns, but they are becoming more frequent, more intense and lasting longer overall due to global warming.
“Heat waves are increasing in number and intensity every year… and they are among the most tangible, obvious, documented and clearly observable signs of climate change,” Betti said.
“European summers have become much hotter in recent years… What should worry us is that summers without intense and prolonged heatwaves simply no longer exist. ‘Normal’ summers have become rare. “
Last month was the hottest June on record, according to European climate monitoring service Copernicus.
BBC forecaster Helen Willetts looks at the week ahead in southern Europe
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