The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) belives that current strong heatwaves in Europe are to become the norm in Europe during the summer months.
"These kind of heatwaves are becoming more and more frequent during the coming decades and the negative trend in climate will continue until at least 2060, independent of our success in climate mitigation," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said on Tuesday.
He hopes the current events are a wake-up call for European governments and that they have consequences in the next elections in democratic countries, he said.
However, Taalas said it might be too late to save glaciers as the WMO expects they will keep melting for hundreds or thousands of years, as sea level rises.
Several countries in Europe are facing a sharp heatwave this week, with temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius. The dry conditions and high temperatures have also created the perfect circumstances for forest fires to ignite and spread quickly.
Italian firefighters took around 30 residents to safety after a fire broke out in the Massarosa municipality to the north of Pisa in Tuscany on Monday evening. A north-east wind fanned the flames, threatening homes in the area.
Fires have erupted repeatedly in recent days on the Italian mainland and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily. The authorities attribute many of the blazes to carelessness amid an ongoing drought that has drained major rivers dry and also to arson.
In the Gironde department on France's Atlantic coast, some 19,300 hectares have been scorched by the blazes over the past week. Conditions on Tuesday were reported to be difficult for the firefighters with strong winds hampering the work.
A home for the elderly near Teste-de-Buch directly on the coast had to be cleared overnight, and 370 animals in a zoo in the region had to be taken to another zoo.
Some 34,000 people have left their homes since the fires broke out in Teste-de-Buch and Landiras a week ago.
Arson is thought to be behind the blaze in Landiras, which lies inland and to the south of Bordeaux, the prefecture of Gironde said. A man has been taken into custody in connection with the fire, Bordeaux prosecutors said.
In Spain, the fires that have been raging since last Wednesday have destroyed at least 60,000 hectares of forest, broadcasters RTVE reported on Tuesday, citing the authorities of the various regions affected.
"This is the worst fire emergency since records have been kept," Civil Defence Force director Leonardo Marcos told radio station Cadena SER. One of the contributing factors is the strong heatwave caused by man-made climate change, he said.
The situation was particularly bad in Zamora, near the border with Portugal, and in Ávila, north-west of Madrid. In these two provinces, around 10,000 people from about 50 villages had to be brought to safety from the flames since Sunday.
In Zamora, two people were killed and at least 15 injured, while 30,000 hectares of forest were burnt to the ground.
Since the beginning of the year, flames have already destroyed more than 100,000 hectares in Spain, which is almost 13,000 hectares more than in the entire 2021, according to RTVE.
Strong winds fanned a small fire in north-eastern Athens into a major blaze on Tuesday evening. Thick brownish plumes of smoke could be seen from almost all regions of Athens. The situation was "serious," the regional governor, Giorgos Patoulis, told state radio.
Residents of the affected regions received a message by text message to be ready to leave their homes if ordered to do so by the fire brigade. One village had already been evacuated because the flames were approaching threateningly, state television reported.
Huge fires had broken out in the region below Mount Penteli in north-eastern Athens in the summer of 2021, destroying vast areas of forest and scrubland. "Eleven fire-fighting planes and six helicopters" are in action, a spokesman for the fire brigade told state radio. In addition to Greek firefighters, firefighters from Romania were also deployed, he said.
Germany, meanwhile, is expecting potentially record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday, as 10 of Germany's 16 states raised their forest fire alarm to its highest level.
In Britain, temperatures have reached 40 degrees Celsius for the first time on record, with 40.2 degrees provisionally recorded at London's Heathrow Airport, the Met Office said on Tuesday, according to PA Media.
People living in the Netherlands might get a break on Wednesday, as the weather service expects maximum temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius, but also heavy thunderstorms.
In Belgium, the capacity of the Doel 1 and Doel 2 nuclear reactors has been reduced owing to the heat. There are fears that the cooling water will become too warm, the Belga news agency reported, citing operators Engie.
On Tuesday, the country recorded 36.4 degrees Celsius, its fourth highest temperature since records have been kept, the KMI weather service said.
Several cars burst into flames on the Belgian coast. Five cars burnt out and five others were damaged in the dunes of the seaside resort of De Haan on Tuesday, the Belga news agency reported, citing police sources. Heat and dryness had led to a rapid spread of the fire.
However, the fire brigade had brought the blaze under control and was trying to prevent it from reigniting. VRT reported that the fire may have started in a parked car or from a discarded cigarette.
