Europeans are baking as a heatwave rips through the continent – but the residents of one city in particular are facing temperatures highs on another level.
In Southern Spain is known for scorching hot summers with sweltering heights often making venturing outside uncomfortable in the heat of the day.
Some places in Andalucia are known to reach 40C in the summer with heat lingering well into October.
Branded the “Iberian Oven,” the city of Seville is currently experiencing temperatures around 36 degrees Celsius.
Lying inland, Seville does not benefit from the cooling seen in coastal cities.
To make matters worse the city sits in a low-lying area meaning heat is trapped causing hot air to mass, unable to escape.
Meanwhile, Seville’s southerly location means the city is often in the path of hot air blowing over from North Africa.
All in all, these factors combine to keep mercury rising rapidly in the city.
There are fears the city which is popular with tourists could soon become simply to hot to sustain tourism.
Desertification is one concern with environmental scientists warning that continued high temperatures could transform the region into a barren and dry landscape.
Climate change has been acknowledged as a factor as experts point out a series of record-breaking regional heatwaves in recent years.
This has seen as part of a wider global trend of high temperatures linked to climate change as carbon emissions drive changes to the Earth’s atmosphere.
