Italy warns tourists to avoid sun from 10am until 6pm as heatwave expected

Italian authorities have warned people to stay out of the sun from 10am until 6pm as temperatures reach over 40C.

A red alert has been issued for 17 cities amid the third punishing heatwave in just two months and temperatures are it is expected to start on Wednesday.

This is the most severe warning meaning that even the young, fit and healthy are at risk of adverse effects from the intense heat.

Several of Italy's biggest cities such as Rome and Florence saw temperatures reach 38C today and the mercury is expected to reach 40C on Thursday. This has prompted authorities to warn people to avoid the sun, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

While Britain has been hit with torrential rain and stormy conditions for most of the summer, Europe has been hit with record-breaking heatwaves with the mercury reaching 48C in southern Italy.

The heat was so intense that several cities last month were hit by power cuts due to heat damage to underground cables.

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people were left without power or running water around the city of Catania.

Italy and other parts of southern Europe have also had to contend with wildfires.

Major wildfires were burning in Greece and in Spain's Canary Islands on Monday, with hot, dry and windy conditions hampering the efforts of hundreds of firefighters battling the blazes. Two of the fires have been burning for several days.

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.

In Greece, authorities said the body of a man was recovered from a sheep pen in an area in the central Viotia region under evacuation as a wildfire approached. Local media reported the man apparently died of smoke inhalation while trying to save his livestock.

Last month, a wildfire on the resort island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists. Days later, two air force pilots were killed when their water-dropping plane crashed while diving low to tackle a blaze on Evia. Another three wildfire-related deaths have been recorded this summer.

In Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa, a wildfire that police say was started deliberately last Tuesday in Tenerife continued to burn out of control. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated and about 13,400 hectares (33,000 acres) of pine forest and scrubland have burned.

High pressure dubbed a “heat dome” has moved in across mainland Europe and has extended down to the Mediterranean and is expected to push through on Thursday when temperatures are expected to reach their highest.

Parts of the Iberian peninsula could reach close to 45C while southern France and northern Italy will see highs of 30s to low 40s.

In France, weather warnings are also in place this week where temperatures in the south and east have already reached highs of 40C.

Also, there are warnings for high temperatures in Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Hungary Austria and Lithuania.

Spain announced a heatwave Sunday and expected to last until at least Thursday. But Spain and France should avoid some of the worst heat by the weekend.