It's lunchtime, which means we are approaching the hottest part of the day in Italy - as these pictures from the streets of Rome and Bologna show.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Natasha Booty
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Morocco is no stranger to high temperatures, but in recent days staff at the capital’s Rabat Zoo have taken extra precautions.

Frozen meals are being fed to the animals "taking into account the specific diet of each", head vet Saad Azizi told the AfricaNews website, external.

Mammals and birds are most at risk from the heatwave, he said, and staff are warned to limit the quantity of frozen food the animals eat so they don’t suffer side effects.

Some of the animals are also getting cold showers, and blocks of ice are being put in their enclosures to cool them down.

Temperatures on Tuesday are expected to top 40C (104F) in several towns and cities across Morocco – including Fez, Zagora and the tourist hotspot of Marrakesh.

Image source, EPA

Authorities in some North African countries are urging people to take measures to protect themselves as the heat takes hold, including drinking lots of fluid and staying out of the sun.

Last week Algeria and Morocco recorded some of their highest temperatures, reaching 48C (118.4F).

Algerian authorities have warned the soaring temperatures look set to continue this week.

In Morocco, some environmental experts have urged the authorities to declare a climate emergency, local media report. It follows last year's wildfires which destroyed thousands of hectares of forests and woodlands, injuring dozens of people.

Recent high temperatures are part of dramatic fluctuations in temperatures across the world.

In the southern part of the Africa continent, colder than usual temperatures are being experienced. Last week, snow fell in the South African city of Johannesburg for the first time in more than 10 years.

Image source, .

A quick heads up - we'll be hosting a Your Questions Answered session this lunchtime.

So if you have any queries or concerns about the current extreme heat, and how climate change may affect you, please send us your questions..

Our experts - climate and meteorological - can help, looking at your concerns from an environmental, health or meteorological perspective, and even how current weather events might impact your finances.

You can get in touch in the following ways:

• Email: yourquestions@bbc.co.uk, external
• WhatsApp:+44 7756 165803
• Tweet:@BBC_HaveYourSay, external
• Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

In some cases, a selection of your comments and questions will be published, displaying your name and location as provided - unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published.

We've been hearing from more 5Live listeners, who have been asked by Nicky Campbell: Is there a plan for the planet?

Rowena in Andalucía, Spain says, "you have to stay very still all day and wait for the evening time".

She says temperatures were already 30 degrees in the morning, "everyone just goes inside the house, it’s very quiet".

With efforts to keep her five cats and four dogs cool, Rowena put "cold, wet towels on the floor for the animals to lie on".

Image source, Reuters

Mark in Birmingham says, "I think people are bothered about climate change but not when it comes to affecting their own lives".

He says consumer’s habits haven’t changed, "people still want to buy cheap, plastic tat and still go away to Spain, Florida and Cancun two, three times a year".

"People won’t stop doing that because they’re not being forced to, and if you get a Party in this country that’s going to force people down this route, they won’t vote."

Mark and his wife haven’t flown in over ten years, "we don’t go long haul, we holiday more locally".

Image source, EPA

There have been wildfires on the Spanish island of La Palma and in mainland Greece - and also forest fires in Switzerland, as we were just telling you.

Fires need three things - fuel, oxygen and heat. On a hot and dry day, something as simple as a spark can ignite a fire.

Fires often occur naturally, ignited by heat from the sun or from a lightening strike.

Many however are also caused by human carelessness. Arson, campfires, not burning debris properly, discarding lit cigarettes, and playing with matches are often blamed for causing fires.

Once started, a wildfire can spread due to the wind, being on a slope or because of fuel.

Fuel can be anything from trees, underbush and grassy fields. During a period of low rainfall or drought, the foliage dries even further, meaning a fire will burn even more violently and be more difficult to control.

Read our article on how wildfires start and how they can be stopped here.

Imogen Foulkes
Geneva correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The forest fire in southern Switzerland is still raging, with over a hundred firefighters now battling to bring it under control.

The fire broke out late yesterday afternoon close to the village of Bitsch in canton Valais, and spread ‘explosively’ overnight, local authorities said, fuelled by high winds. More than 200 residents of nearby villages have been evacuated for their safety.

The fire is currently raging across 100 hectares, in high altitude areas difficult for vehicles to access.

Helicopters, including Super Pumas from the Swiss army, are dropping water on the blaze. But the wind, and smoke, are making the work very difficult. This morning Swiss authorities warned that the extreme dryness – a result of an extremely hot dry June and, so far, July – and high winds were a ‘toxic cocktail’.

The wind eased a little this morning, making it less risky for the helicopters, but gusts of up to 80 km per hour are expected again this afternoon. None of the evacuees can return home yet, and firefighters warn it could take days or even weeks to put the fire out completely.

Nadine Yousif
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

These soaring temperatures above 40C (104F) are historic for cities in southern Europe.

But for other parts of the world - like the Middle East and Asia - the extreme heat is a constant reality.

Take Baghdad, Iraq, a city of 7.6 million people where the average high temperature in July and August is 44C (111F), or Delhi, India which often hits highs of 45C (113F).

So how do people in those cities cope with the constant heat?

Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet once asked that question on the streets in Baghdad in 2016, on a hot July day when the thermometer registered 49C (120F) in the shade.

She found that air conditioners, in all shapes and sizes, are a popular commodity in the city.

For one man, the secret to staying cool is simple: ice cream and showers.

But for those without electricity - often due to regular power cuts - keeping cool can be difficult. As a result, the sale of blocks of ice has spiked in recent years, offering an alternative cooling method.

Misting fans on the streets of Baghdad are also commonplace.

In both Baghdad and India, people generally tend to avoid going outside in the sun. It is also common in parts of India for people to drape wet pieces of cloth over their heads to keep cool.

Many homes in India are designed with the heat in mind, with high ceilings and thick, insulating walls of mud and mortar to keep the interior cold.

People also often sprinkle water around the house, in their courtyards, and sometimes wet their curtains so that the air around them cools.

Chris Bockman
Reporting from Toulouse, South West France

The region of Toulouse including the nearby town of Albi a Unesco heritage site popular with tourists are expected to the hottest in France today with temperatures reaching up to 41 degrees centigrade.

Already the region was the warmest in France last year - enduring the hottest summer ever recorded here.

This year Toulouse city officials went to southern Spain to see what they do to beat the heat and have imported several ideas.

One is gold and silver metal ribbons above the main shopping street. It's an experiment to see if they reflect the sun’s rays. Canvas sails common in Seville are being installed above streets in other parts of the city this week.

Some municipal buildings roofs are being painted white and city parks are being kept open until 11pm and public swimming pools until 10pm.

French climate change scientists have warned that with annual temperatures in both the cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse rising so fast while suffering from severe drought they could have the same weather conditions as Algerian coastal cities like Oran and Algiers within 30 years time.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

We've just been hearing from the WMO which is warning that the northern hemisphere heatwave is set to intensify this week, causing overnight temperatures to surge and leading to an increased risk of heart attacks and deaths.

"Temperatures in North America, Asia, and across North Africa and the Mediterranean will be above 40C for a prolonged number of days this week as the heatwave intensifies," the WMO said in a statement sent to journalists.

Nicky Campbell has been taking some of your calls on his BBC Radio 5Live phone-in programme.

We've just been hearing from Caroline, who lives near the city of Granada in southern Spain. She says she has returned to England with her husband this week to get away from the heat.

"We’ve come back to England for a week’s respite so we can do some exercise and see family - [the heat] is very oppressive," she says.

She lives in a traditional house built into a cave, which is designed to keep cool in the summer time meaning there is no need for air conditioning.

"However, it means you are housebound," she adds.

"You can’t do any exercise, you can’t go for a long walk – my husband and I are very keen walkers.

"You just wait for the evening."

BBC Weather presenter Ben Rich has the latest forecast as a heatwave sweeps across southern Europe, bringing scorching temperatures to countries such as Spain and Italy.

Justin Rowlatt
BBC Climate editor, reporting from Alicante

There is a blazing sun down here in southern Spain.

The temperature is into the 30s now, and we’re expecting it to get to the late thirties here in Alicante, but up into the 40s inland.

Stop for a moment and think what that means for your body’s metabolism. Our natural body temperature is 37C (98.6F). Our systems tend to start to shut down if we get much colder or much hotter than that. So our bodies are fighting to keep us at 37C.

When you get into the 40s, it’s a real struggle. When you think about how tired you feel in the heat, that is real tiredness, because your body is working so hard to try and moderate your temperature.

This is a really perilous time for millions of people across Europe as they expose themselves to these really punishing temperatures.

John Grant, a senior lecturer in climate change resilience at Sheffield Hallam University has been studying the changing climate for more than 30 years.

He tells Nicky Campbell's 5Live show that the wealth associated with the fossil fuel industry is a factor in the transition to greener energy.

"The problem is that fossil fuels are not only concentrated energy, but they are concentrated wealth and the people who have that really don't want to spread that wealth out.

"The trouble with renewable energy, generally speaking, it means that more people have that wealth, it’s over a wider baseline because the energy itself is quite diffused."

Image source, EPA

As well as this period of intense heat which is gripping the northern hemisphere, heavy rainfall - another consequence of a changing climate - is also affecting large parts of the globe, including Japan, South Korea and the north-east of the US.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said that these extreme weather patterns highlight the need for more climate action.

"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," WMO Secretary-General Prof Petteri Taalas said.

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

Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist

While southern Europe bakes in a heatwave, northern Europe including the UK have seen cooler and wetter conditions.

This is due to the position of the jet stream – a fast-moving wind high in the atmosphere – which has been stuck in one position dividing the north to south.

Normally the jet stream meanders and moves north or south but as it has been stuck, we call this a ‘blocked’ pattern - something you may have heard us mention before.

To the north of the jet stream, cooler Arctic air is in place with areas of low pressure moving in giving spells of rain.

To the south of the jet stream, high pressure has been in position drawing hot air from north Africa.

There is no sign of this blocked weather pattern changing over the next week or so.

Matt Taylor
BBC Weather

Phoenix in Arizona recorded its eighteenth consecutive day of daytime temperatures at or above 43C (110F) on Monday. This ties the previous record set back in 1974.

Not only is the city likely to break the record on Tuesday, but highs above 43C are forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week.

And there’s no respite by night either, with temperatures not expected to drop below 32C (90F).

Georgina Rannard
Climate and science reporter

The extreme temperatures sweeping the globe this week are the new normal in a world warmed by climate change, the UN weather agency says.

Temperatures went over 50C (122F) in parts of the US and China on Sunday.

The World Meteorological Organisation warned the heatwave in Europe could continue into August.

Millions around the world are under heat advisories as officials warn of danger to life from the hot temperatures.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Reuters

Europe is far from the only part of the world that is burning.

Intense heatwaves are being felt across north America, especially in the western and southern US. More than 80 people million have been advised by the government to take shelter from the "widespread and intense" heat in the region.

Wildfires have ignited over the past few days in California, burning vast swathes of forests. The biggest fire, called Rabbit Fire, had burned nearly 8,000 acres and was only 35% contained by Monday, according to authorities.

Wildfires are also burning in Canada, where nearly 900 fires were active, as of Monday, according to the AFP news agency. Close to 600 were considered out of control. Smoke from the fires is descending across the north-eastern US, similar to scenes we saw in June when the air turned a dramatic orange across parts of New York.

Justin Rowlatt
BBC Climate editor

It isn’t just us humans who suffer in these extreme temperatures, animals do too.

Colin Brown runs an animal sanctuary - Hugo’s Home Farm - just outside the southern Spanish city of Murcia.

He rescues horses but also has a collection of other abandoned animals - donkeys, llamas, a couple of peacocks and a very sweaty looking pot-bellied pig.

“The animals hate this heat”, he says and then checks himself with a laugh. “Except the meerkats, they love it.”

Colin is particularly worried about the horses, which shelter forlornly in the shade of their sheds.

But it’s the chickens that have really suffered. A few of them have died of heat stroke even though he’s moved them under the house.

“July and August are always harsh months”, says Colin. "But this year has been something else.”

The local river has run dry, he tells me, and hay and straw are really hard to get hold of because there’s been so little rain this year.

Colin can only keep the sanctuary thanks to his alter-ego, his drag act, “Coco Channel”.

He does shows at the beach hotels in Benidorm and Alicante and asks for donations at the end. “If it wasn’t for Coco,” says Colin with a wry smile, “I’d really be struggling.”