Southern Europe is currently enduring a relentless heatwave that has compelled Greece to shut down historic landmarks and has ignited severe wildfires throughout Italy, Spain, and the Balkans.

Conversely, the northern regions of Europe are contending with a different type of harsh weather, as severe storms, tornadoes, and large hailstones pummel France and Germany.

In Athens, the mercury has reached a staggering 44C during what marks the summer’s third heatwave, leading to the closure of the famous Acropolis and the implementation of stringent new measures to safeguard workers from the intense heat.

Across the Balkans, firefighters are struggling to contain multiple blazes that threaten homes, nature reserves and tourist regions, with emergency services complaining of stretched resources and outdated equipment. 

Spain and Italy are also in the grip of fast-spreading fires that have devoured tens of thousands of hectares of parched land, with Sicily and Malaga among the hardest hit. 

The EU’s fire monitoring system warns that the risk of yet more devastating blazes remains high as forecasters predict drier-than-average conditions for much of the continent through August.

But while southern Europe burns, parts of France and Germany have been lashed by violent storms that ripped roofs from homes and toppled trees. 

A tornado tore through an airport in central France, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, as hailstones the size of golf balls hammered southern Germany.

These extreme weather events come after 2024 was officially declared the hottest year ever recorded, with temperatures exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. 

Greece, one of the most popular summer holiday destinations for Brits, is sweltering under yet another heatwave after months of searing heat. 

The continent’s southernmost nation has always had hot and dry summers, but is suffering increasingly devastating wildfires and scorching temperatures. 

National weather service EMY has said the heatwave that began on Monday is not expected to ease before Sunday, with temperatures in Athens reaching 44 degrees Celsius today and expected to increase during the week. 

Authorities announced that the Acropolis, Greece’s most visited ancient site, would be closed for five hours from midday on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Couriers, food delivery riders and builders in the wider area of Athens and other regions were among those ordered to pause work from midday until 5pm. 

Workers with underlying health issues were advised to work remotely to avoid heat stress. 

In the Balkans, firefighters are battling forest blazes across North Macedonia and Albania. 

Seven major fires were reported in North Macedonia, where temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius were recorded Tuesday. 

Five fires were out of control in Albania where temperatures ranged from 37C to 41C on Monday. 

In Croatia, a fire near the tourist town of Sibenik was being fought by dozens of civil emergency experts and six specialist planes.

Some of the fires in North Macedonia have been burning for several days, notably one in the Ezerani natural park close to lake Prespa, and the country’s mayors have complained they do not have enough resources to battle the fires.

According to the mayors’ association, the 400 firefighters in North Macedonia are half the number that the law lays down as the minimum. Their vehicles are on average 27 years old.

Serbia was on a heat alert with highs around 38C on Monday, but temperatures were expected to start falling. The country is already suffering from one of its worst droughts in living memory.

Northern Bosnia was also braced for temperatures of up to 40C.

Bulgarian authorities on Tuesday urged businesses to give away water and cut physical labour during high-risk hours.

Spain is struggling to quell a series of wildfires that have already burned through more than 70,000 hectares of land in recent weeks.

Firefighters managed to extinguish or control several blazes over the weekend, but arid conditions sparked two fresh fires near the tourist hotspot of Malaga.

One punishing fire was recorded threatening the main entrance of the Andalucia Technology Park (PTA) in Campanillas, near Malaga city. Another was spotted near in Casares, near the Ignacio Molina wind farm. 

In both cases, firefighters and water-dropping helicopters were dispatched to calm the flames. 

The Italian island of Sicily is also battling several wildfires, with soaring temperatures leading authorities to issue red alert warnings for four provinces this week.

Sicily’s Forestry Corps and Civil Protection workers were engaged to extinguish the fires, with six water-dropping aircraft drafted in to control the flames.

Three of the blazes are located in the northwest in the countryside between the cities of Palermo and Trapani, with two more reported along the south coast and another in the suburbs of the eastern city of Catania.

Horrifying images snapped overnight into Monday by residents in Trapani showed thick orange flames scything through bone-dry hills on the outskirts of the city.

Yesterday, meteorologists placed the eastern provinces of Catania, Caltanissetta, Enna and Messina under red alert warnings, with emergency services preparing for the prospect of yet more infernos.

Wildfires have burned more than 227,000 hectares of land in Europe since the beginning of the year, according to the EU’s European Forest Fire Information System – far above the average figure for the first six months of the year.

It’s not yet clear if 2025 will be a record year, as that will depend on how the fire season evolves in the coming months, but the number of fires in Europe has also surged this year so far, with 1,118 blazes detected as of July 8, versus 716 in the same period last year, EFFIS said.

Countries are preparing for worse blazes. 

Warmer-than-average temperatures are forecast across Europe in August, EFFIS said, meaning fire danger will remain high across much of southern and eastern Europe.

While Southern Europe is expected to see normal rainfall patterns, the rest of the continent is expected to be drier than normal in August, EFFIS said – potentially exacerbating fire risk in other regions.

Across the globe, 2024 was the warmest year on record, with temperatures exceeding 1.5 Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time.  

Research published last week showed that the soil surface temperature around Athens rose in some places by as much as 10 degrees Celsius since July 2024 after fires destroyed vegetation.

While Italy, Spain, Greece and the Balkans battle wildfires and scorching heat, residents in France and Germany are facing a very different problem.

Brutal storms engulfed much of eastern France over the weekend with one person killed and six more injured amid the violent weather events.

The roofs of several houses were torn off in the department of Saone-et-Loire, north of Lyon, such was the intensity of the winds and the lightning storms.

One person attempting to make repairs to his roof was killed when he was blown off a ladder, while in nearby Jura, almost 5,000 people were left without power.

Another person was seriously injured in Devrouze when he too was blown off a roof, and five more people were hurt in the Alpine department of Savoie when a tree was felled and landed on a car.

Then on Monday, Tours Airport in Indre-et-Loire was battered by a tornado.

Shocking footage snapped by airport workers showed the tornado ripping past the concourse. It went on to cause significant property damage in the neighbouring town of Rochecorbon. 

Meanwhile, the German Weather Service (DWD) yesterday issued a string of weather alerts for much of the north and southeast of the country, warning of heavy rainfall and the prospect of flash floods

Videos and images shared to social media late Sunday also showed huge hailstones that were raining down across parts of the country.

Southern Germany experienced golf ball-sized hail, with chunks of ice up to 5cm in size raining down through thick fog. 

A mixture of level two warnings for ‘significant weather’ and level three warnings for ‘severe weather’ were issued for Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony. A level three warning was issued for Berlin.