The catastrophic wildfires tearing across Europe have reached such a scale that they are generating their own weather systems, as an approaching heatwave threatens to push an already unprecedented situation further out of control.
The fires, described as devastating in their intensity and reach, have grown large enough to influence atmospheric conditions around them — a phenomenon that can cause erratic, dangerous fire behaviour and make the blazes significantly harder to contain.
The arrival of a new heatwave is expected to compound the crisis, adding heat and dry conditions to regions already under severe fire stress. Authorities and emergency services across the continent face an increasingly dire challenge as the situation continues to escalate.
