A heat wave continues to sweep southern Europe, with possible record temperatures in the coming days, the BBC notes in its report.

Temperatures are expected to exceed 40C in parts of Spain, France, Greece, Croatia and Turkey, while parts of Italy could reach 48C, making it “possibly the hottest ever recorded in Europe”. , as reported by the European Space Agency.

Last month was the warmest June on record, according to the EU’s climate monitoring agency Copernicus. Extreme weather events caused by a warming climate are “unfortunately becoming the new normal”, the World Meteorological Organization has warned.

Heatwaves occur as part of natural weather patterns, but scientists say globally they are becoming more frequent, more intense and longer due to global warming.

Tourists in Europe have been affected by the heat wave. In Athens, the Hellenic Red Cross has sent teams to the Acropolis to care for visitors – saying many are feeling nauseous and dizzy due to the heat.

“That’s why with the brochures we try to inform them where in the municipality of Athens there are spaces with air conditioning for them to enter,” said Marina Stamati, representative of the organization. According to forecasters, temperatures in parts of Greece are expected to reach 44 degrees.

Earlier this week, a man in his 40s died from the heat after collapsing in northern Italy, while several visitors to the country have collapsed from heat stroke, including a Briton outside the Colosseum in Rome.

Heatwave Cerberus – named by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster featured in Dante’s Inferno – is expected to bring more extreme conditions in the coming days.

Spain has been sweltering in temperatures of up to 45 degrees. The regional government of Andalusia has launched a telephone helpline for people affected by the heat.

On Thursday, the European Space Agency said temperatures could reach 48 degrees Celsius on the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia: “possibly the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe”.

But as Cerberus fades, Italian forecasters are warning that the next heatwave – dubbed the ‘Charontes’ after the ferry that delivered souls to the underworld in Greek mythology – will push temperatures to 43 degrees in Rome and possibly 47 degrees on the island of Sardinia.

A summer that will break records around the world

The first week of July is estimated to have been the warmest week since records began. But scientists can use air bubbles trapped in ancient Antarctic ice to estimate temperatures over a million years. This data suggests that last week was the warmest week in about 125,000 years.

A new study says 61,672 people died in Europe because of the heat last year. The ISGlobal Institute in Barcelona – which researches global health – said Italy had the most heat-attributable deaths, 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.

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

Experts say periods of extremely hot weather are becoming more frequent and climate change means record temperatures are now normal.