The warnings, which point out risks even for healthy persons, are applicable for the upcoming days to popular tourist destinations including Rome, Florence, and Bologna.
Already, the heatwave has beyond its average duration, and nighttime temperatures have remained high.
As another heatwave approaches, higher temperatures are anticipated across Europe the following week.
Natural weather cycles include hot spells, but due to global warming they are happening more frequently, getting hotter, and lasting longer.
Anyone in the areas affected by Saturday’s red alerts has been urged by the Italian government to stay out of direct sunlight between 11:00 and 18:00, and to take extra precautions with the elderly and weak.
Rome is often hot, but this heat wave has persisted for a lot longer than usual, she claimed.
The famed gondolas of Venice are unbearably hot, a gondolier there told the BBC.
The visitors occasionally scream in pain when they lean against it because “the heat… goes up your legs, goes up your feet, it really burns.”
Greece, meanwhile, recently had temperatures of at least 40C (104F). In order to safeguard visitors, the Acropolis in Athens, which is the most well-known tourist destination in the nation, was closed on Friday and Saturday during the peak tourist season.
The last visitors to The Acropolis before it closed were Matt Finden, 51, and his family from Vancouver, Canada.
At the location, which is located on a rocky mountaintop and provides minimal shade to guests, the Red Cross has been providing water and first aid.
Wildfires are another concern, particularly in places with strong winds. Greece saw significant flames in 2021 during yet another unusual summer.
In other developments, the Reuters news agency reported that a forest fire on the Spanish island of La Palma prompted the evacuation of at least 500 residents.
According to Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, the fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning at El Pinar de Puntagorda and destroyed at least 11 homes.
Central Europe has also been experiencing high temperatures, with Poland and Germany among those affected.
The Czech Republic’s meteorological agency warned that weekend highs could exceed 38C, an unusually high temperature for the nation.
In some areas of southern Spain, southern Italy, and even Greece later in the week, highs of up to 47C are predicted. There will probably be some city records broken.
On Saturday, though, portions of England are predicted to experience heavy rain and blustery gusts.
This, according to meteorologists, was caused by low-pressure systems being drawn into the UK by the southern shift of the jet stream, which was fueling the hot weather in Europe and delivering unsettled and cooler weather.
The Italian Meteorological Society gave the current heatwave in Europe the moniker Cerberus in honor of the three-headed monster from Dante’s Inferno.
The following heatwave, known as Charon after the ferryman in Greek mythology who carried souls to the underworld, could return temperatures to above 40C next week, according to Italian weather analysts.
Additionally, portions of the US, China, North Africa, and Japan are experiencing heatwaves.
According to the EU’s climate monitoring program Copernicus, last month was the warmest June ever.
In Sicily in August 2021, 48.8C was the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has cautioned that extreme weather brought on by a changing climate is “unfortunately becoming the new normal.”
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