Photos: Scorching heatwave hits Spain and France

Children cool off in a fountain in Colmar, eastern France. The heat wave that arrived from Spain is starting in the south of the country with temperatures often exceeding 30°C in most regions, but the worst is yet to come with a mercury that should still go crazy by crossing the 40°C mark locally on June 17, 2022.

Children cool off in a fountain in Colmar, eastern France. French officials warned Thursday that a record pre-summer heatwave was spreading north from Spain, where authorities were fighting several forest fires as the country sizzles under a sixth day of sweltering temperatures.

Visitors fill their water bottles from a public fountain during a heat wave in Seville. Spain’s earliest heatwave in over 40 years dragged on Wednesday for a fifth day, with temperatures expected to top 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the country as the mass of hot air pushed into France.

Two women use fans to fight the scorching heat during a heatwave in Seville. Almost all of Spain was affected, with nine of the country’s 17 regions on orange alert, the second highest level possible, Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET said.

A street sellor delivers bottles of water to a man near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

A field of potatoes is irrigated during sunset, as a heatwave hits Europe, in Moeuvres, France.

A man drinks from a large bottle of orange in downtown Madrid, Spain.

A pedestrian beneath a parasol refreshes herself with water as temperatures reach 43 degrees Celsius in central Madrid, Spain.

People visit Paris on board a Bateau Mouche on the Seine river.

A young girl cools off by the Trocadero fountains, amid high temperatures in Paris.

A woman tries to cool off her kiosk with a fan to fight the scorching heat during a heatwave in Seville.

A dog walks past children who cool off in a public fountain in Nice as an early heatwave hits France.