Rome registered a record temperature of 41.8C on Tuesday while parts of Spain also reached new highs as much of Europe continues to be gripped by a searing heatwave.
The Italian capital’s previous record of 40.7 C (105.26 F) was set in June 2022 but the current “Cerberus” heatwave is even more intense and has been sparking wildfires in countries across Europe.
That temperature was overtaken in various parts of Rome on Tuesday, with a weather station in the eastern suburbs registering the new high.
Meterologists have predicted that temperatures could this week exceed Europe’s current record of 48.8C set in Sicily in August 2021.
The EU’s emergency response centre has issued red alerts for high temperatues in most of Italy, north east Spain, Croatia, Serbia southern Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
Parts of Spain experienced their highest temperatures ever on Tuesday as British tourists continued to suffer in the country’s third heatwave already this summer.
Weather experts said previous records were being smashed as thermometers continued to rise.
Temperatures in Sineu, a municipality in central Majorca where Olympic cyclist Francisco Tortella was born, had reached 42.8C, which is just over 109F, by 3.10pm local time on Tuesday.
The highest temperature previously recorded for the area was 41.3C (106.3F) in August last year.
The island was on red alert on Tuesday with experts predicting the highest temperature ever recorded in Majorca - 44.5C - could be smashed.
Spain’s north-east region of Catalonia saw its highest temperature on record broken - with temperatures at Boadella Reservoir near Darnius in the border province of Girona reaching a sweltering 45C (113F).
Regional authorities restricted access to six protected natural spaces because of the “high risk of forest fires.”
Catalonia was one of four regions of Spain where a red alert was in force on Tuesday.
In Andalucia and the Valencian Community, which include the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca, the highest alert was orange.
Girona City Hall said on Monday it was allowing pensioners free access to swimming pools in Dehesa Park, Catalonia’s largest urban park.
It also announced an agreement to use the basement of Girona Cathedral as one of the city’s “climate refuges” during heatwaves.
In Greece wildfires have been tearing through neighbourhoods on the fringes of Athens with mass evacuations and a huge response from emergency service with thousand sof firefighters battling blazes amid searing heat and smoke.
The temperatures have even led to the clossure of the Acropolis, one of the world’s most celebrated tourist attractions. Italy and France have sent planes to help drop water on the flames in the desperate battle to save homes and lives.
A wildfire swept uncontrolled through forests northwest of Athens on Tuesday, forcing more residents to flee their homes and Greece’s prime minister to urgently return home from a summit in Brussels.
The fire front extended for more than 8 km (5 miles), officials said.
“We are living a nightmare,” Christos Stathis, mayor of the town of Mandra, told Open TV. “Houses and properties are on fire.”
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis returned from Brussels, where he had been attending an EU-Latin America summit.
More than 250 firefighters assisted by 75 fire engines, 11 aircraft and nine helicopters battled the fire.
Meanwhile Swiss police ordered the evacuation of several mountain villages late on Monday as a forest fire spread, which was still burning on Tuesday morning.
Around 200 firefighters, army, police and other partners worked alongside helicopters to douse the flames in the canton of Valais throughout the afternoon and during the night.
“The fire is spreading towards Ried-Morel-Riederhorn,” police said in a brief statement on Twitter, saying they would evacuate the village, near the town of Brig, which is close to the Italian border.
It later added that three other villages were to be evacuated and warned of rockfalls.
The area is affected by the same Mediterranean heatwave affecting southern Europe, with temperatures set to exceed 30C in parts of the Valais canton this week, forecasts show.
