
Temperatures are set to soar in the UK this week, with predicted potential highs of 42C. Elsewhere in Europe, the heatwave is causing wildfires to rage in France, Spain and Portugal.
The current record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe is 48C, which was registered in Athens, Greece, in 1977. But last year regional authorities on the Italian island of Sicily registered a temperature of 48.8C on 11 August 2021.