Britain has been battling scorching weather with record-breaking temperatures exceeding 30C (86F) across the country. The pattern has extended across Europe, with France and Spain experiencing extreme heatwaves and even wildfires. But holidaymakers might need to pack extra suncream and sun hats, as experts warn temperatures could rise to 50C (122F) this summer. This week is already forecast to be concerningly hot across Europe and some areas are set to continue to be uncomfortably warm over the summer.Professor Bill McGuire, a professor of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, told The Telegraph that ’50C (122F)-plus is perfectly possible later this summer’.He said: ‘The record currently is 48.8C in Sicily in 2021, so it won’t take much to beat this. If not this year, then 2027 is a good bet, as the influence of the building super-El Nino will be that much greater.’Inland southern Spain and Portugal are set to be ‘the furnace of Europe this summer’ according to Professor Hannah Cloke, a specialist in meteorology and climate science at the University of Reading. Metro passengers in Paris trying to keep cool during the most recent heatwave’Places like Seville and Córdoba, and inland Alentejo behind the Algarve, are likely to top 40C repeatedly over the next few weeks, with the low to mid 40s possible in the hottest spells,’ she added. ‘Sardinia has already been forecast to hit 43C this week. Rome and Florence are under Italy’s highest heat alerts.’The meteorology expert notes Greece is set to reach 40C (104F) for the first time this summer over the weekend.Elsewhere, Professor Cloke said ‘inland Turkey regularly pushes towards 45C in high summer.’She adds: ‘Coasts and islands run a few degrees cooler, but even Mallorca has been in the high 30s. If you want guaranteed heat, book inland Andalusia. If you want to sleep at night, stay near the coast.’Meanwhile, Professor McGuire said he ‘wouldn’t touch anywhere in southern Europe’ due to how hot the popular destinations are now getting.Professor Cloke predicts that ‘High 40s are possible in the hottest spots, and where humidity is high it can feel hotter still.’ Although she notes 50C (122F) is not yet in official forecasts for this season, she thinks: ‘One of these summers, Europe will find out what 50 degrees feels like. I would rather we never did.’
As the scorching temperatures continue into the summer, Madrid is forecast to be 38C on Friday Cyprus is another hot destination, with temperatures set to be 39C later this weekBoth France and Spain experienced their hottest days on average nationally in June, with some individual spots reaching over 40C (104F).New records were set across Europe last month – Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany all scorched in a record-breaking near 42C (108F), the BBC reports. Data shows Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world meaning it will be more exposed to spates of extreme heat and hot weather. Forecasts for the next few days suggest many southern European destinations, including Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus, will be the hottest spots.Milan, Rome and Terrasini are all expected to reach high 30s on Friday – 37C (99F), 35C (95F) and 36C (97F) respectively, according to Weather Online.Madrid and Majorca are forecast to reach 38C (100F) and 36C (97F). Elsewhere in Europe, Hungary’s capital of Budapest will see 36C (97F), and locations in France – such as Lyon, Toulouse and Marseille – have forecasts around 35C (95F) and 36C (97F). European countries reported more than 10,000 excess deaths during the record-breaking heatwave that engulfed the west of the continent in late June, official data showed. People in Paris attempting to shelter from the sun as they walk past the Eiffel Tower, which announced it would be closing early due to the heat over the weekendThe extreme heatwave disrupted power supplies, shut schools, and smashed temperature records in France, Spain and the UK.The vast majority of fatalities – more than 9,000 – were among people aged 65 and above, according to data published by EuroMOMO, a network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organisation.Extreme heat can kill by causing heat stroke, or aggravating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most vulnerable.’To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s ?really high,’ Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, which hosts ?EuroMOMO, told Reuters.’It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme ?heat,’ Vestergaard added.Scientists have said the late-June heatwave would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without human-caused climate change, which is making heatwaves more frequent and intense.France has been particularly affected by heatwaves recently, with tinder-dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling blazes from the Iberian Peninsula to France.Many scientists say climate change is making wildfires more frequent and difficult to combat. Wildfire pictured raging in Los Gallardos, Spain, on July 9Firefighters battled through the night to tackle a blaze that tore through a historic forest near Paris on Tuesday, with at least two people arrested on suspicion of having started the fire near one of France’s best-known royal palaces.’It is not under control,’ Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said late on Monday, adding that the main blaze in Fontainebleau and another one nearby that started on Monday afternoon had scorched 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres). Mr Nunez said the fire was just a few kilometres away from the Palace of Fontainebleau, which explained the deployment of considerable resources, including water-carrying planes and helicopters. Meanwhile, a wildfire in Spain has cost multiple lives. The blaze first broke out late last Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains.