Zürcher Nachrichten - France expecting peak temperatures as heatwave hits Europe

Mediterranean countries from the Iberian peninsula through France and Italy to the Balkans and Greece have been sweltering in a heatwave for several days, prompting health warnings and alerts about increased risk of wildfires.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is making such heatwave events more intense, frequent and widespread.

Temperatures in France were expected to hit a peak on Tuesday, according to the Meteo France weather agency, with the highest extreme heat warning in place in 16 departments across the country.

A total of 68 others were on the second-highest level.

Meteo France forecast very high minimums ranging from 20-24 degrees Celsius "or slightly higher in some localised areas, and maximums reaching 36 to 40C with some peaks at 41C".

Operators of the Eiffel Tower shut the summit of the 330-metre (1,083-feet) high landmark at 1100 GMT on Monday and said it would remain closed on Tuesday and Wednesday "due to the current heatwave".

Access to the first and second floors remained open but operators still urged caution.

"Remember to protect yourself from the sun and stay hydrated. Water fountains are available in the walkways leading to the esplanade," they said.

Across the Ile-de-France region which includes Paris, police said all but the least polluting vehicles would be banned from the roads from 0330 GMT to 2200 GMT because of high ozone pollution levels.

Speed limits of 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) per hour would also remain in some places.

Across the country, the government said it expected nearly 1,350 schools to be partially or completely shut -- nearly double the number on Monday -- with teachers complaining of overheated and unventilated classrooms making students unwell.

Warnings were issued for young children, older people and those with chronic illnesses.

"Heatwaves are deadly," said Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, west of London.

"We need to treat extreme heat with the same seriousness we give to dangerous storms."

- Roll cloud -

Portugal will see some respite on Tuesday after two days on red alert in several regions, including Lisbon, and warnings will be downgraded to orange alert in all but eight areas inland.

But temperatures were still expected to reach 40C in the central city of Castel Branco, Beja and Evora in the south, and 34C in the capital.

The national meteorological agency IPMA said those on the beaches in northern and central Portugal would have seen a rare "roll cloud" blown towards the coast on Monday.

Images shared on social networks showed a huge horizontal cloud heading from the horizon towards the shore, accompanied by a violent gust of wind when it reached land.

"The most frightening thing was the wind and everything becoming dark," one swimmer told online media outlet ZAP. "It was very strange. We all started packing up our things and running.

"It looked like a tsunami."

Similar temperatures in the high 30s to mid 40s were forecast in Spain after they soared to 46C in the south -- a new record for June, according to the national weather agency.

Red alerts have been issued for 18 Italian cities in the coming days, including Rome, Milan, Verona, Perugia and Palermo, as well as across the Adriatic on the Croatian coast and Montenegro.

Italy also experienced another type of extreme weather event on Monday when a flash flood in the northern region of Piedmont caused by heavy rains killed a 70-year-old man.

"We are increasingly faced with emergency situations due to weather events that we used to call exceptional but are now more and more frequent," said the president of the region, Alberto Cirio, on social media.

The risk of forest fires remains high in a number of Portuguese regions. On Monday night, some 250 firefighters were tackling a blaze in the southern Aljustrel area.

In Turkey, rescuers evacuated more than 50,000 people threatened by a string of wildfires, most from the western province of Izmir, where winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour fanned the blazes.

Greece has also been tackling wildfires.

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L.Zimmermann--NZN