PARIS\/BERLIN\/ROME, June 20 (Reuters) – A punishing heatwave sweeping across much of Europe prompted emergency meetings in France, nationwide warnings in Germany and strains on tourists \u200cand residents in Italy, as temperatures climbed towards record levels.<\/p>\n
French Prime Minister Sebastien \u200cLecornu was due to hold a crisis meeting on Saturday after the national weather agency Meteo France warned the \u200bheat would persist into next week, describing it as comparable to major episodes in 2003 and 2019.<\/p>\n
By Sunday, forecasters said temperatures of 39 to 40 degrees Celsius would stretch from the southwest through the Paris region into Burgundy, with some areas possibly reaching 41C.<\/p>\n
Temperatures are expected \u200cto peak on Monday, potentially matching \u2060historic highs.<\/p>\n
Germany also faced near-nationwide heat alerts, with temperatures approaching 38C. The DWD weather service cautioned that a combination of heat and humidity \u2060could trigger severe thunderstorms.<\/p>\n
COOLING BENEATH A ROMAN TEMPLE<\/p>\n
Beyond the Alps, temperatures expected to reach 36\u201337C were transforming daily life and tourism in some Italian towns.<\/p>\n
Visitors queued under a blazing sun outside the \u200bColosseum \u200bas Rome’s summer heat turned sightseeing into a \u200btest of endurance. Some sought relief \u200cin the cooler underground spaces beneath the half-hidden remains of the Temple of Claudius.<\/p>\n
In the northern city of Bologna, one of the hottest in the peninsula, people splashed water on their faces at the central 16th-century Fountain of Neptune and sheltered in the shade of the porticoes.<\/p>\n
Poles in Warsaw meanwhile sought relief from the heat at popular summer spots along \u200cthe Vistula River.<\/p>\n
HEATWAVES TAKE ECONOMIC TOLL<\/p>\n
Scientists say climate change \u200bis making heatwaves more frequent and intense across \u200bEurope, raising the risk of health emergencies \u200band economic disruption during the summer months.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Paris moved to \u200cease the impact on residents, with Deputy \u200bMayor Emmanuel Gregoire ordering \u200bparks to remain open around the clock.<\/p>\n
The economic toll of extreme heat is also drawing attention.<\/p>\n
Bank of France Governor Emmanuel Moulin said short-term effects on growth were “somewhat \u200bambiguous”, citing both reduced productivity \u200cand increased energy use, but warned that over the medium term heatwaves weigh \u200bon economic activity.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni in Rome, Dominique Vidalon in Paris, \u200bRachel More in Berlin; Editing by Jan Harvey)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS\/BERLIN\/ROME, June 20 (Reuters) – A punishing heatwave sweeping across much of Europe prompted emergency meetings in France,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[73,5,65,6851,30,26823],"class_list":["post-38618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-paris","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-meteo-france","tag-paris","tag-temperatures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}