The weather in Belgium has been colder and wetter than usual for July, while new heat records are being recorded in Italy and fires are taking over forests in Spain.
While the warmth and sun are what encourage most people to travel abroad from Belgium, however this summer, are few countries in Europe that are not groaning under abnormal heat.
The European Space Agency (ESA) reckons that the European temperature record of 48.8°C could be broken in the coming days. According to scientists, the arrival of the natural phenomenon El Niño, amplified by climate change, could set records worldwide.
Find out what the predictions are for the most popular holiday destinations.
Spain
People currently vacationing the popular costas in Spain will have less to fear, as temperatures have been hovering around 30°C in cities like Malaga on the Costa del Sol and in Alicante on the Costa Brava. However, in the course of the week, temperatures will peak at 36°C in Alicante, while in Malaga, the temperatures will go as high as 38°C.
Further inland, the heat is even more unbearable. In cities located further away from the sea, like Seville and Cordoba, the temperature will surpass 40°C on several days. From Wednesday, temperatures may drop slightly, but will remain close to the higher end of 30°C.
Spain's Meteorological Agency (AEMET) warned on Twitter that, over the next few days, a heat wave will affect a large part of the countries bordering the Mediterranean. "In Spain, temperatures will be very high, unusually so, despite the fact that we are already in the heatwave (the hottest period of the year). In some places, temperatures could exceed 42-44ºC."
Credit: Belga
On the Spanish Balearic Islands, temperatures will also go above 40ºC in Mallorca, while in Ibiza and Minorca, they will remain closer to 30ºC.
Temperatures are considerably cooler on the Canary Islands, as they are located in the Atlantic Ocean. While temperatures even remain below 20ºC in La Palma, the island is currently engulfed by a large forest fire due to the ongoing drought. More than 4,000 people have already been evacuated from the affected area.
Italy
A total of 16 major Italian cities were placed on red heat alert on Sunday. These included Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Campobasso, Catania, Civitavecchia, Firenze, Frosinone, Latina, Messina, Palermo, Perugia, Pescara, Rieti, Rome and Viterbo. The code red aims to warn people of possible negative health effects due to the heat, while people are advised to stay out of the sun as much as possible between 11:00 and 18:00.
Rome was sweltering under a blazing sun, with temperatures already approaching 30°C at 11:00 in the morning. Temperatures in the Italian capital are set to rise to 40°C on Monday, then 42 or 43°C on Tuesday, shattering the previous record of 40.5°C set in the capital in August 2007.
But it's on the island of Sardinia that the highest temperatures are expected. The record of 48.8°C set on 11 August 2021, the highest temperature ever measured in Europe, could be beaten. In the country's southern regions of Calabria and Puglia, temperatures will remain above 35°C.
The Italian Meteorological Centre (CMI) fears this could be "the most intense heatwave of the summer," but also one of the most intense the country has experienced to date.
France
While the weather in southern France is not expected to reach the heat peaks seen in its southern neighbours, MeteoFrance has declared code orange for the Nice region for the next few days. In the coming days, the temperature here will be around 30°C.
A bit more inland, in the Provence region, it will be warmer still, with temperatures in Aix-en-Provence, Orange and Avignon nearing 38°C in the coming days. In Bordeaux, which last year was engulfed in a heat wave around this time, temperatures will peak at 34°C on Wednesday but will remain below 30°C during the rest of the week.
Tweet translation: "Heat wave developing in the south-east quarter over the next few days, with a peak expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Stay informed."
On southwestern France’s Basque coast, temperatures will remain between 23 and 27 °C. Paris will be slightly warmer than the Belgian capital, with temperatures set to fluctuate around 26°C and a maximum of 31°C on Wednesday.
Greece
In Greece, temperatures had gone above 40°C in 87 weather stations across the country last week. In most of the rest of the country, authorities have declared code orange for heat.
Due to the extreme heat, the Acropolis in Athens, the country's main tourist attraction, remained closed during the hottest hours (between 11:30 and 17:30 local time) for several days now to protect tourists from the heat, as temperatures in the city reached 41°C. The Greek Red Cross had to intervene there dozens of times in recent days to assist tourists felled by the heat.
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At the start of the week, the Greek capital will "cool down" slightly, but by the weekend, temperatures will once again soar above 40°C.
Firefighters in Greece believe the risk of forest fires is very high, while authorities have advised people to drink plenty of water, seek shade and avoid running. It has called on labourers not to work between noon and 17:00.
In Thessaloniki, the Greek port city on the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea in the northeast of the country, temperatures will hover just below 40°C. On Saturday, a record temperature of 44.2°C was measured on the island of Crete, but this week, temperatures will be around 10°C lower on average.
Portugal
Compared to neighbouring Spain, the holiday weather will be pleasant in Portugal, which last year also experienced massive forest fires due to prolonged periods of intense heat and drought.
In the city of Porto in the northwest of the country, temperatures are around 25°C, and will even drop to 22°C on Wednesday and Thursday. In the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, the weather will be slightly warmer, but temperatures will remain below or around 30°C.
In seaside resorts in the Algarve like Albufeira and Faro it will be around 30°C, while on the Portuguese island of Madeira, it even gets chilly, with temperatures remaining below 20°C. Several rain showers are predicted in the coming days.
Other destinations
The warm weather is not only hitting the classic sun destinations in and around the Mediterranean, but temperatures are also rising in Central and Eastern Europe. Germany recorded the highest temperature of the year last Saturday in the state of Bavaria, where temperatures climbed to 38.8°C.
In Kitzingen, in northern Bavaria, the maximum was 37.8°C. In Dresden-Strehlen, in the state of Saxony, and in Notzingen, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, 37.3°C were reached. This week, temperates in most of these areas will be around 10°C lower.
In the Austrian capital of Vienna, temperatures at the start of the week will hover around 34°C before lowering to around 28°C. In the Czech Republic and Poland, temperatures have also fluctuated around 30°C and higher, but this week they will drop here too.
The Balkans will remain sweltering hot in the coming days. Code orange for heat is in force in most of that region: from Kosovo to northern Macedonia. In most parts of Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, too, temperatures are not set to drop below 30°C in the coming days.
