The wild weather: Heavy rain, icy winds – and heat

 

Weather
Wild weather: forest fires and torrential rain in Europe

Sigrid Nenander

Published 19.37

There is extreme weather in Europe - on different parts of the spectrum.

In Cyprus, forest fires have raged and several villages have been forced to evacuate.

At the same time, Mallorca's airport has been closed after heavy downpours.

A heat wave has swept across Europe.

In Cyprus, the extreme heat has been followed by several forest fires.

Three villages have been forced to evacuate and thousands of animals have died in fires that raged in the district of Paphos on Tuesday, the Cyprus Mail reports.

Greece has also been plagued by the extreme heat. In the capital, Athens, they were forced to close several schools on Tuesday and post medical personnel around the city. On Thursday, the temperature is expected to rise above 40 degrees.

In Turkey, temperatures are also 8-12 degrees higher than normal for the time of year, euronews reports.

Tourists in central Athens on Wednesday. Photo: Petros Giannakouris / AP

Heavy rain and icy winds

At the same time, Mallorca has been hit by dramatic downpours. On Tuesday,the airport in Palma was forced to close due to heavy flooding.

In the UK, the weather is significantly colder than on the continent with temperatures 1-3 degrees below normal in June. The cold weather is due to arctic winds blowing in over the country, and they are expected to stay well into July, writes the BBC.

Heavy smoke at the fire in Paphos district. Photo: Cyprus Police/X