Back-to-back heatwaves have worsened fire danger in Europepublished at 18:03 BST
18:03 BST
Sarah Keith-Lucas
BBC Weather
Wildfires are still burning in several parts of Europe,
with France, Italy and Spain being the worst affected countries.
Extreme
heat has been gripping places such as Murcia and Sicily over recent days, with
temperatures in Sardina rising above 47C.
Three back-to-back heatwaves in
Europe – the world’s fastest warming continent – have exacerbated the fire
danger, along with the abundance of dry vegetation.
A wet winter followed by a sunny spring in western Europe
created optimal conditions for vegetation growth in the region.
Then the
recent hot and dry weather has then dried out this vegetation, providing a huge
amount of fuel for fires that do ignite.
The fire danger does improve for some places into the
weekend as a couple of cold fronts will work their way into western
Europe.
These front will bring some showers and thunderstorms, initially
across northern Spain and Portugal Saturday morning, before spreading across
southern France and the western Alps later on Saturday.
By Sunday, much of
Italy, the Balkans and eastern Europe will see some showery rain and a drop in
temperature will accompany the rain in many places too.