(Bloomberg) -- Heat warnings are in place for Italy and large parts of the Balkans, with extreme rain forecast for the Spanish island of Mallorca.
There are red alerts across southern Italy, including Sicily and Calabria, plus the Lazio region around Rome. The temperature will climb to as high as 42C (108F) on Thursday in mainland Greece, which is bracing for more wildfires as winds pick up in the Aegean Sea. Croatia, Serbia and Hungary are also under heat warnings.
Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat waves, triggering extreme weather events from thunderstorms to wildfires. Greece and the Balkans have been particularly hard hit this summer, while the Mediterranean Sea reached a record average temperature earlier this week.
Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET has issued an extreme rain alert for northern Mallorca, with the potential for 18 centimeters (7 inches) to fall in 12 hours. There are also orange warnings for violent thunderstorms on the French Riviera.
The wildfire risk is very high in Athens and the surrounding Attica region, while the same alert level is in place for north Peloponnese, the island of Evia and central and north Aegean Sea islands.
Inhabitants of Pastra on the Ionian island of Kefalonia have been told to be ready to evacuate after a forest fire erupted. There were 34 blazes across Greece in the 24 hours to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
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(Updates with Greek fires starting in fifth paragraph)
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