Large parts of Europe are expecting exceptionally warm summer weather this week with sweltering heat waves forecast in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain.
In Germany, official weather service, DWD, said temperatures would reach 38 degrees Celsius on Tuesday as a heat wave dubbed Ulla makes its way across the country.
DWD meteorologist, Sabine Krueger, said the weather was due to break records on Wednesday with temperatures of 39 in the region around Frankfurt and above 40 in some other places.
Germany’s highest-ever temperature was recorded on August 7, 2015 in the Bavarian town of Kitzingen at 40.3 degrees, according to the DWD.
The eastern state of Brandenburg raised its wildfire risk level to 5, the highest possible. The same risk was declared in parts of the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony.
Germany was not the only European country bracing for extreme heat.
French weather agency, Meteo France, issued an orange “heat wave’ warning for large parts of central and eastern France, warning of temperatures rising up to and beyond 40 degrees.
In Paris, city authorities are setting up extra drinking fountains and water misting devices. Swimming pools will open late and air conditioned spaces will be opened in the afternoons for vulnerable people.
Also, in Italy, weather website, IlMeteo.it, warned of a bout of “explosive heat’’ also pushing temperatures to 40 degrees and beyond in northern cities like Milan and Bologna, and in the island of Sardinia.
According to the website, it could be the warmest June to date in certain parts of Italy with temperatures peaking between Thursday and Friday.
In Spain, official weather forecasting agency, AEMET, issued a heat wave alert predicting temperatures as high as 42 degrees in the north-eastern Ebro Valley.
However in Britain the Met Office said there was a “slight chance’’ that the country could break the record for the highest June temperature of 35.6 degrees.
The Met Office forecast hot and humid weather for the rest of this week and issued regional warnings for thunderstorms preceding the heat wave.
As hot weather spread also to Austria, the city of Innsbruck gave carriage horses a day off given that temperatures were expected to climb above 32 degrees.
Last year, the city authority introduced a ban for tourist carriages at or above this temperature.
Farther south, temperatures were expected to reach 37 degrees on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia and Croatia.
Storms were predicted in Croatia’s eastern flatlands, possibly affecting busy traffic routes linking Germany and Austria to Greece and Turkey.
Beyond Europe, the situation is more extreme in India, as the south Asian country has been reeling this month under temperatures ranging from 40 to 50 degrees.
The eastern state of Bihar has been worst-hit as 101 people – mostly farmers and outdoor labourers – died in the blistering heat wave since mid-June, disaster management officials said.
The heat wave, which is slowly abating with the onset of annual monsoon rains, has killed 36 more people in other parts of the country, according to provisional official data. (dpa/NAN)