‘Unbearable heatwave’ strikes popular tourist destinations in southern Europe

A blistering heatwave is spreading across the south of Europe with temperatures reaching as high as 45 degrees in areas of Spain and the Mediterranean.

The heatwave has impacted popular travel destinations in areas of Italy, the Iberian Peninsula and the south of France. Italian media reported that a 44-year-old man has died in the heatwave in Lodi, a city in the north of Italy. The man was working at road maintenance before falling ill, according to Milanese publication la Repubblica.

“We are facing an unbearable heatwave,” said Italian politician Nicola Fratoianni, recommending those in the affected areas to use “all the useful precautions” to avoid any further deaths.

Gerry Murphy, weather forecaster for Met Éireann, said “over the next ten days we can expect the weather in the south of Europe to be very hot many of the days”. The forecaster said that temperatures in some parts of Spain could reach as high as 40 degrees tomorrow, with similar temperatures being expected across the Mediterranean tomorrow and into next week.

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These temperatures are being caused by an area of high pressure which is spreading across the south of Europe, he said.

Tourists into these areas should be aware that the prevailing conditions mean that “in general it will be very hot with very little rainfall”.

The areas affected by these high temperature weather conditions are some of the post popular destinations for Irish air-travellers. In May 2023 more than 285,000 people boarded flights to Spain from Dublin Airport, according to data from the Central Statistics Office. Also impacted by these weather conditions are other top destinations such as Italy – 103,600, France – 140,900, and Switzerland – 23,700.

[ How to stay safe in the sun, as Irish tourists are warned of cancer risk in European heatwave ]

This heatwave is not expected to spread to Ireland and the northwest of Europe however. By contrast, Met Éireann is warning of a spell of unseasonably wet and windy weather which they are reporting is due to an area of low pressure which is making its way across Ireland.

“From midnight tonight we’ll see a band of heavy and persistent rain move up over the south, coupled with fresh to strong easterly winds, leading to choppy conditions at sea particularly on southern and eastern coasts,” said Met Éireann forecaster Liz Coleman.

Heavy rain will move north across the country tomorrow, which “will be heavy at times with possible impacts including localised flooding and difficult travelling conditions”, Ms Coleman said.

Met Éireann is concerned that people will be “caught off guard” by the unseasonable weather during the summer months and is advising people to keep abreast of weather developments over the weekend.

Met Eireann has issued yellow rainfall warnings across Ireland with the exception of Donegal for the weekend.