How long is the heatwave in Europe expected to last?

Europe is set to continue to bake under extreme heat for weeks as global temperatures soar towards alarming highs with records expected to be broken.

Another anticyclone dubbed “Charon”, who in Greek mythology was the ferryman of the dead, advanced into the Mediterranean region from North Africa on Sunday and could soon lift temperatures well above 45C in parts of Italy, Spain and Greece.

The unrelenting heatwave has shown no sign of abating on Tuesday, with Italy bracing for its highest-ever temperature as Sardinia and Sicily have been forecast to reach 48C. Meanwhile, 20 out of the country’s 27 main cities have been issued with red warning alerts - signalling a possible health threat for anyone exposed to the heat - with the number expected to rise to 23 on Wednesday.

In fact, meteorologists predict that temperatures this week may keep climbing until they surpass Europe’s current record of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.84 Fahrenheit), set in Sicily in August 2021.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has forecast the heatwave should intensify by mid-week, with a spokeswoman telling The Independent the “above normal temperatures” of the past week are expected to continue over the next week.

Ele Hands, Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist, similarly told The Independent the heatwave across southern Europe and northern Africa is expected to “persist and slowly intensify” throughout the coming week, with the focus gradually moving towards southeast Europe. The forecaster said many parts of Greece, Turkey, southern Spain, and Italy and its surrounding islands are set to reach temperatures as high as 45C.

The Met Office said temperatures some 8-12C above normal will continue into August, although the extreme values of the preceding weeks will be increasingly less likely. The highest temperatures are likely once again to be in Sicily, where absolute maximum temperatures could continue to exceed 40C into next week, said the forecaster.

The WMO spokeswoman also predicted the hot weather throughout the Mediterranean region and the Balkans could continue into next month. However, she said the UN agency does not yet know how intense the heat will be, nor if it will last until the end of August.

She said the question of whether there will be a new national temperature record also remains unknown. However, she did say individual station records will “certainly” break their daily records.

Her primary fear is that temperatures will stay high overnight as “that is when you really get the health risks”. The Met Office has predicted overnight temperatures will hit close to 30C in the hottest spots.

France’s public health agency said the current stretch of hot weather would probably hospitalize or kill “many” people, as heat waves have done almost every summer since 2015.

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service says 2022 and 2021 were Europe’s hottest summers on record, with scientists estimating more than 61,000 people died during the continent’s heatwaves last summer.

Robert Vautard, a climate scientist and director of France’s Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute said: "My worry is really health - the health of vulnerable people who live just below the rooftops of houses that are not prepared for such high temperatures. That could create a lot of deaths."

The Greek meteorological service has warned of a high risk of fire this week as holidaymakers have been evacuated from their homes amid intensifying wildfires near Athens overnight. The country still has memories of a wildfire disaster in 2018, when a blaze killed 101 people in the seaside town of Mati, east of the capital.

The deadly heat in Europe comes as extreme temperatures, driven by climate crisis, are breaking records worldwide as both the US and China saw the mercury crossing 50C on Sunday.

Scientists have long warned that climate change, caused by CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels, will make heatwaves more frequent, severe and deadly. They say governments need to take drastic actions to reduce emissions to prevent climate catastrophe.

“In many parts of the world, today is predicted to be the hottest day on record,” tweeted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation. “The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It’s happening. I urge world leaders to ACT now.”