Heatwave in Greece the most intense in at least 40 years

Greece is currently experiencing one of the worst heatwaves of the last 40 years, the National Meteorological Service (EMY) said in a Twitter post on Monday, noting that it had given early warning of the phenomenon and classed it as dangerous.

"Given that the heat wave has started since Tuesday and will last until Friday with a duration of 11 days, it will be one of the most intense heatwave in the last 40 years at least," the tweet said.

The most intense heatwave of the year is underway across southeastern Europe, with the highest temperatures between 42 to nearly 45 °C recorded from south Italy across Greece to western Turkey over the last few days.

As we head into early August, the heatwave is expected to intensify even more and may challenge the European highest temperature ever recorded.

Monday or Tuesday could both peak around +47 °C.

Dangerous wildfire threat has developed over Turkey, parts of Greece and Sicily.

While July was very hot across the southern and southeastern parts of the European continent, the month ended with extreme heat this week and continued to increase over the weekend.

The worst heat has developed across southern Italy, Greece, and Turkey, as well are surrounding countries Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, southern Serbia, and Bulgaria.

The general weather model agreement hints at the potential for the highest temperatures up to around 47 °C possibly in some of the lowlands, precisely in the Thessaly region in northern Greece.

This region is also known for extreme heat in the past.

READ MORE: Mitsotakis: We ask people to limit electricity demand at peak times during the heatwave.