ARCHIV - 31.07.2020, Griechenland, Athen: Eine Touristin macht Fotos vom Parthenon auf der Athener Akropolis. Viele stöhnen, wenn es mal heiß ist. In großen Metropolen sind Leute hitzeerfahrener. (zu dpa "Katar bis Kalifornien: Wie heiße Metropolen mit Hitze umgehen") Foto: Petros Giannakouris/AP/dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

In Germany and some other countries, people can recover a bit from the heat, but it is now getting really hot in Greece and Cyprus. Meteorologists have forecast temperatures of around 40 degrees across the country from Friday to next Tuesday.

Even at night, temperatures are not supposed to fall below 30 degrees in many places, which makes it difficult for residents of the country and holidaymakers to recover from the heat of the day.

However, many people in Greece are well prepared for such temperatures. Many apartments and houses have at least one air-conditioned room. Cities will open air-conditioned gyms during the day.

Doctors advise people not to consume alcohol or sugary drinks and to wear loose, light-colored cotton clothing. You should also drink plenty of water, take lukewarm showers regularly and eat lots of fruit and vegetables.

In comparison, the temperatures in Germany are – at least temporarily – more bearable. For Friday, the German Weather Service (DWD) initially expects temperatures of 26 to 33 degrees, in the north with fresher 20 to 26 degrees.

35 degrees are possible in the south. In the west and in the Alps, isolated showers or thunderstorms can occur in the evening. Already on Sunday and Monday it should be over 30 degrees hot again in most of Germany, in the south and southwest even more than 35 degrees are possible at the top.

Some countries reported progress in fighting fires despite drought and high temperatures. According to the responsible authorities, eleven forest fires were still active in Spain on Thursday afternoon.

Most of these fires will soon be under control, it said. By Thursday, the fires, which had been rampant for a week, had destroyed at least 80,000 hectares of forest. This is an area larger than the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. The situation also improved in Portugal.

In the fight against the violent forest fires on the French Atlantic coast south of Bordeaux, the situation has stabilized, the responsible prefecture said on Twitter. The fires are not yet completely under control. According to the information, residents are slowly being allowed to return to their homes.