Soaring temperatures, wildfires and wild deadly weather patterns are ravaging all parts of the globe – with meteorological organizations warning worse is to come.

Health authorities have sounded alarms from North America to Europe and Asia, urging people to stay hydrated and shelter from the burning sun, in a stark reminder of the effects of global warming.

With scientists saying the target of keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels is moving beyond reach, evidence of the crisis is everywhere.

Europe, the globe's fastest-warming continent, was bracing for its hottest-ever temperature on Italy's islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where a high of 48 degrees is predicted, according to the European Space Agency.

Close to a Greek seaside resort near Athens, a forest fire flared in strong winds by the popular beach town of Loutraki with the mayor revealing 1,200 children had been rescued from a holiday camp. 

The UN on Wednesday validated the European heat record of 48.8 degrees set in Sicily in 2021.

"The extreme weather – an increasingly frequent occurrence in our warming climate – is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies," said World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Petteri Taalaswwo.

"This underlines the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible."

It was already the world's hottest June on record, according to the EU weather monitoring service, and July looks to be readying to challenge its own record.

In Spain, temperatures could rise to as high as 44 degrees in some regions. However, a forest fire on the island of La Palma in the Canaries that forced the evacuation of 4,000 peoplem was being brought under control as temperatures finally relented.

In Cyprus, where temperatures are expected to remain above 40 degrees through to Thursday, a 90-year-old man died as a result of heatstroke and three other seniors were hospitalized.

Scorching in China

China reported a new high for mid-July in the northwest of the country, where temperature reached 52.2 degrees in the Xinjiang region's village of Sanbao, breaking the previous high of 50.6 degrees set six years ago.

In nearby Turpan city, where ground surface temperatures reached 80 degrees in some parts, authorities have told workers and students to stay home and ordered special vehicles to spray water on major thoroughfares.

Prolonged high temperatures in China are threatening power grids and crops and raising concerns about a repeat of last year's drought, the most severe in 60 years.

Typhoon Talim was gaining strength and due to make land at night along China's southern coast, forcing the cancellation of flights and trains in the regions of Guangdong and Hainan.

In Japan, heatstroke alerts were issued in 32 out of the country's 47 prefectures, mainly in central and southwestern regions.

In South Korea, torrential rains left 40 people dead as river levees collapsed causing flash floods. They followed the heaviest recorded rain in the capital Seoul last year.

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In the U.S., a quarter of the population fell under extreme heat advisories, partly due to a heat dome that has settled over western states.

Temperatures in the Death Valley, which runs along part of central California's border with Nevada, reached 52 degrees on Sunday at Furnace Creek. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 56.7 degrees in July 1913 at the same location. 

"The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It's happening. I urge world leaders to ACT now," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation.

Scientists have long warned that climate change, caused by CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels, will make heatwaves more frequent, severe and deadly.

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service says 2022 and 2021 were the continent's hottest summers on record.

As many as 61,000 people may have died in Europe during heatwaves last summer, with a repetition feared this season.

"My worry is really health - the health of vulnerable people who live just below the rooftops of houses which are not prepared for such high temperatures," said Robert Vautard, a climate scientist and director of France's Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute. 

"That could create a lot of deaths."

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