This man in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, seems to be enjoying the feeling of sun on his face. And Portugal has been having plenty of it, as the Iberian Peninsula bakes in warmth coming over from North Africa. The country has already had near-record temperatures this year, but nothing yet to break the 47.3° C (117.1° F) recorded in 2003 in Amareleja. Still, large parts are on red alert.

Fountains, like this one in Rossio Square in Lisbon, provide welcome relief from the heat. Portugal is not just experiencing a heat wave, but also clouds of dust coming from the Sahara Desert that are tingeing the sky dark yellow in some places.

In neighboring Spain, the mercury is also soaring and heat warnings have been issued. Three people are reported to have died from heat-related causes in the past week. Authorities are warning people to shelter from the sun and drink plenty of fluids, advice heeded by this man in Madrid.

Despite its northerly location in Europe, much of Germany has been experiencing an unusually long run of high temperatures, accompanied by much less rainfall than usual. Farmers have requested financial aid from the government to help them cope with greatly reduced harvests.

The heat in Germany has caused the waters in the Rhine River to drop dramatically leaving parts of the riverbed dry, as seen here in Düsseldorf. Freight vessels are being forced to reduce their cargoes if they want to continue sailing on the river.

In the Austrian capital, Vienna, asphalt in the city has become too hot for police dogs' paws, so the force has come up with the logical response: specially made dog shoes. The working dog shown here, Spike, seems as alert as ever and completely unfazed by his new item of uniform.

Sweden has had its hottest July of the past 260 years. The high temperatures have led to a high fire danger, and wildfires in the country have extended even into the Arctic Circle. But these city dwellers in central Stockholm seem intent on seeing the bright side of the hot weather as they laze at the Tantolunden bathing place.

In Britain, the unusually long summer has taken its toll on lawns and plants across the country. Fire authorities have warned that parks and other grasslands are like a tinderbox after a July that was the country's third-warmest month in more than a century. Greenwich Park in London, seen here, seems to be no exception.

But relief can been found even in central London, as seen here in a fountain at Trafalgar Square. Retailers are also suffering, groaning not just about the heat but also over decreased sales: Accountancy firm BDO said figures were down 1.1 percent in July. "The scorching conditions did not encourage physical shopping and only hindered footfall in shops," BDO's Sophie Michael said.

North Korea has called for an "all-out battle" against record temperatures, with crops damaged amid the prolonged heat wave. Poor harvests could hit hard in a country that is already struggling under international sanctions over its nuclear arms program. North Korea also lacks irrigation systems and other infrastructure to cope with drought.

These men in Pyongyang transporting an electric fan have obviously adopted one of the cheapest, yet most effective, ways of countering heat: the humble electric fan. They seem not to believe a widespread South Korean myth: that fans can cause death if left on while someone is asleep. The fact is, of course, that people are much more likely to die from the heat without one running.

In northeastern Germany, there has been hardly any rainfall in recent months. The country's weather service says Saxony-Anhalt received just 15 liters of rainfall per square meter — roughly a quarter of the average. Across Germany, there were just 50 liters of rainfall per square meter, half of the usual amount. Mecklenburg-West Pomerania received more sunshine than any other German state.

The little rain that fell came down very unevenly across Germany. In May, the country's weather service warned of potential forest fires in parts of Lower Saxony. Meanwhile in southwestern Germany, some towns faced torrential rains that flooded cellars and roads, such as here in Fischbach, Rhineland-Palatinate.

The danger of forest fires is extremely high right now throughout the country. The state of Brandenburg faces the biggest threat. In recent weeks, authorities have been forced to put out more than 100 fires. Recently, 100 hectares of forest and wheat crops burned to the ground in the Oder-Spree region. Brandenburg authorities reported that 90 percent of fires are inadvertently caused by humans.

It took 40 firefighters 13 hours to extinguish the flames sweeping through Brandenburg's Oder-Spree region. A fire in Rostock, meanwhile, was not caused by humans — but by a bird. Police say the animal caused an electricity cable to short circuit, which then set a nearby field ablaze.

Saxony-Anhalt's firefighters, meanwhile, are so busy they needed to get creative to find new sources of water. So they headed to a nearby pool to refill their tanks. The dryness, meanwhile, not only makes fires more likely but also poses a major threat to farmers.

The unusually dry weather has forced many farmers to harvest their crops early. The German Farmers' Association has stated that even April was too warm and dry. The following months meant wheat crops ripened much faster than expected, though insufficient rain has produced a low yield. Sudden torrential rainfall, meanwhile, made matters worse by destroying parts of the crops.

Potatoes, sugar cane and corn are usually harvested in autumn. They require much more water than wheat and rapeseed. So due to the unusually dry weather, Germany's corn plants are in bad shape. The German Farmers' Association president, Joachim Rukwied, is pessimistic and fears crop failures could jeopardize the livelihoods of many farmers.

There are two kind of drought: "Drought in a meteorological sense refers to a drop in rainfall within one month below the long-term average," says Stephan Tober of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research. This causes a drought in the agricultural sense, meaning that there is too little water in the ground. That's a problem for wheat and meadows on the banks of river Elbe here in Dresden.

"Extreme dry spells can cause long-term damage to trees and recovery takes a long time," says Ingolf Kühn of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research. Vegetation has a memory, so to speak, and may adapt if there are several consecutive years with little rainfall. Some German cities have now called on residents to help out in watering trees, so that some day, cacti will not replace trees.

The Rhine River and its tributaries have lowered to dangerous levels, leading to restrictions in shipping. The Mannheim office of the federal Waterway and Shipping Department confirmed that, until conditions change, ships in the upper Rhine can only be loaded with 1500 tons of cargo, down from their usual weight of 3000 or more.

Summer 2018 began as a welcome break from Europe's often-unpredictable weather, and people took advantage of the constantly warm temperatures to spend more time outside. The heat was especially a boon for pubs and bars where fans congregated to watch the soccer World Cup. But as temperatures climbed to up to 39 Celsius, the heat wave's negative effects began to be felt across the continent.

The high temperatures and low rainfall led to a sharp rise in wildfires across several European countries, including Sweden, where authorites were, at one stage, battling more than 50 blazes, some in the Arctic Circle. When German firefighters tackled a forest fire in Fichtenwalde, near Berlin, their operation was suddenly made more urgent by the discovery of unexploded World War II ammunition.

Greece, meanwhile is counting the cost of its own devastating wildfire which last week left 86 people dead. The seaside village of Mati, just 30 kilometers (17 miles) from Athens, saw houses and land incinerated, while many people drowned after rushing into the sea or were burned alive while trying to escape in their cars.

Many of Europe's rivers and reservoirs experienced almost drought-like conditions after water levels dropped severely. Freight vessels that ply German sections of the River Rhine (pictured here in Düsseldorf) and Danube were ordered not to sail fully loaded. The Netherlands meanwhile closed several movable bridges after the metallic structures expanded so much that they couldn't be opened.

As millions of Europeans hit roads, rail and air for their annual summer holidays, transport infrastructure struggled to cope. Eurotunnel passengers faced delays of up to five hours after the air conditioning units failed on trains. Some holidaymakers were forced to spend the night at Hanover airport after authorities canceled flights when one of the runways started to melt.

Poland shut scores of beaches along the Baltic Sea coast after the heat wave triggered a massive toxic algae bloom. German health officials, meanwhile, warned the elderly and others with weaker immune systems to avoid swimming in the Baltic Sea as the increased water temperature poses a danger from vibrio bacteria, which can cause severe illness.

German farmers estimated the damage to crops from the heat wave could reach €1.4 billion and warned of higher supermarket prices. Other countries predicted the worst grain harvest in 25 years, as crops ripened much faster than expected and low rainfall produced a low yield. In Sweden, dairy farmers said they were being forced to slaughter some of their livestock.

Until storms broke the intense heat on Friday evening, Parisians made use of the city's recreational facilities to keep cool, including water fountains around the Eiffel Tower. Despite being 3,324 pages long, France's infamous labor code doesn't mention a specific temperature that would force companies to shut down. But staff can't be punished if they stop work over fears for their health.

Parts of Europe experienced up to six weeks of uncomfortably hot weather. Forecasters predicted that the first storms would bring heavy rainfall to many areas this weekend. Thunder, rain and hail were reported in France and the UK on Friday evening, while the darkening clouds alerted the crowd at this cricket match just outside the English city of Leeds to prepare for a similar downpour.