More than 135 mn in Europe set for temperatures over 35C on Thursday

Areas of Europe home to more than 135 million people -- particularly in France, Italy, Spain and the UK -- are set for temperatures over 35C on Thursday as the continent's latest heatwave intensifies, according to AFP calculations.

Europe is the planet's fastest-warming continent and in some places is ill-equipped to deal with hot weather. Repeated heatwaves and drought have fuelled a historically hot summer of wildfires, and contributed to the deaths of thousands of people so far.

Scientists blame ever hotter and more frequent heatwaves on human-caused climate change.

Temperatures are set to surpass 30C for nearly three out of five European residents (excluding Turkey) -- amounting to around 340 million people --according to an analysis based on German weather service forecasts and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre.

AFP's findings are consistent with those of Austrian NGO Klimadashboard.

For Wednesday, temperatures exceeding 35°C were forecast for at least 92 million people, based on a weather model from 0300 GMT.

On Thursday, the most intense heat is again expected in western and southern Europe.

Temperatures are set to climb above 35°C in regions of France home to 50 million people, including the capital Paris.

While mountainous areas are set to be spared, the heat is expected to spread into northeastern regions that remained cooler on Wednesday.

In Italy, similar temperatures are forecast to affect 29 million inhabitants, particularly along the west coast, in the Po Valley, the "heel" of the boot, and on the islands.

Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula are also likely to be affected, with 25 million people impacted in Spain.

Temperatures are also expected to exceed 35°C for 23 million people in the UK, focused in densely- populated central England and London.

The country is on track to record its hottest ever summer, official weather agency the Met Office said on Tuesday.

AFP calculates the figures using a method similar to that of Klimadashboard, cross-referencing population density with the weather forecast model from the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) -- Germany's national meteorological service -- published at 0300 GMT.

Residents are counted if the model forecasts temperatures above 30C or 35C at their location at any point during the day.

As the model has a resolution of approximately 6.5 km it does not fully capture urban heat-island effects, when cities are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, David Jablonski of NGO Klimadashboard told AFP.

Consequently, the analysis "likely underestimates the number of people affected in densely populated urban areas", the organisation notes on its "European Heat Tracker" website.