Mediterranean countries issued severe weather warnings on Thursday, as a heatwave pushed temperatures above 40 Celsius in Europe.
Portugal went on high alert today as temperatures in the coming days could beat records and warned of a high risk of forest fires.
The highest temperature on record in Portugal was 47.3 C in 2003, in the southern Alentejo region.
Several places in the Alentejo are forecast to reach 47C on Saturday, while Lisbon could reach 43C, which is highly unusual for Portugal’s capital by the sea.
Heatwaves have become common in Italy, and between 2005 and 2016 some 23,880 people died in 23 Italian cities of heat-related problems.
Searing heat has devastated wheat fields across northern Europe while a combination of dry conditions and extreme rain in the Black Sea have hit output estimates.
Wildfires in Greece last month killed 91 people in a sharp reminder of the constant threat of deadly fires in southern Europe during the summer.
In the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, police warned people not to touch the grenades, mines and other weapons that have emerged from the mud on the banks of the River Elbe since the heatwave caused a drastic reduction in the water level.