As Europe wilts under the sun the heatwave sees temperature reach 40C in Spain | ITV News

People flocked to parks and pools across Europe for a bit of respite from the early heat wave that saw the mercury rise above 40C in France and Spain.

A blanket of hot air stretching from the Mediterranean to the North Sea is bringing much of Western Europe its first heat wave of the summer.

Meteorologists say the weather is a sign of what's to come as global warming continues, moving up in the calendar the temperatures that Europe would previously have seen only in July and August.

In France, some 18 million people woke to heat wave alerts affecting about a third of the country Friday.

Forest fire warnings were issued from the Pyrenees in the south to the Paris region.

Parisians and tourists were seeking shade and some even jumped into the Trocadero fountain to cool off on Saturday.

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