[Slideshow] France and Italy feel the heat as 'canicule' hits

Europeans are in for a scorcher this week with temperatures set to soar as high as 40 degrees Celsius in parts in a rare June heatwave. The term takes on a more vivid image in Romance languages – Canicule, or Canicula, from Latin, which you could translate as "Dog Days". It refers to the Canis Major, a Southern Hemisphere constellation, which is visible only at the height of summer.

Dogs cool down by a public fountain during an unusual early summer heatwave, Rome, 24 June 2019. AFP/Tiziana Fabi