If you're heading to Europe this week, you will be met with another sizzling heat wave as temperatures soar into the 90s and even flirt with the triple digits across the continent.

This is just another round of searing heat in what's been a brutal European summer. Here's what you need to know to stay safe.

(MORE: A meteorologist's guide to visiting Europe during a heat wave)

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The forecast

The next round of searing heat started to develop over the weekend as a heat dome built over the United Kingdom and parts of western Europe.

The peak of this fifth heat wave of 2026 will be from Wednesday through Saturday.

Highs in Paris could flirt with 100 degrees for three days in a row. London could flirt with 100 degrees on Thursday, with 90s both on Wednesday and Friday.

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(MORE: Europe is baking. Here's how to stay cool off under a blazing heat dome

These temperatures are 15-20 degrees above average for this time of year.

France has seen 21 monthly records fall on August 12, mainly across the northwestern portion of the nation. The highest temperature reported was a temperature of 105.62 degrees reported in Beaulieu-sur-Layon.

Gogerddan in Wales also has a preliminary report of 95.54 degrees from August 12, which, if confirmed, would be the hottest day in Wales on record.

And while high temperatures in the 90s and even low 100s may sound like just another summer day in parts of the U.S., that heat can be deadly in Europe due to a lack of air conditioning, older infrastructure and an aging population.

The heat is forecast to spread into central Europe by late week, causing temperatures to soar into the 90s there as well. This comes in the wake of last week's heat, which broke temperature records across countries such as Austria and Poland.

(MORE: Danube River water levels cause shipping, power problems)

There's good news ahead

Fortunately, there is heat relief on the way.

Computer forecast models suggest next week will be markedly less hot across much of heat-fatigued Europe. Even parts of Portugal and Spain may at least see more typical, rather than sweltering, summer heat.

Europe's sweltering summer

This summer has been hot, sweaty and deadly across Europe, with thousands of deaths recorded this summer already.

The heat wave in late June was historic — smashing records in France, Spain and the UK for the hottest June day.

And that was just one in a long line of heat waves we've seen over the past few months.

(MORE: Europe is putting explosives in riverbeds to combat historic drought)

So, why are they happening so frequently? Climate change.

Europe is the fastest warming continent. These man-made changes to our climate mean the summer here will continue to be defined by persistent heat domes, which trigger extreme drought, low water levels and catastrophic wildfires.

This continent doesn't really have the equipment to handle this extreme heat and it's going to be brutal for travelers in the decades to come.

(MORE: Earth tied its record hottest month)

Did the Mediterranean Sea just set an all-time record?

On Wednesday of last week, a buoy in the western Mediterranean Sea west of the Spanish island of Mallorca recorded a water temperature of 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

If that preliminary data is found to be correct, that may be the hottest Mediterranean water temperature on record.

The hottest known water temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea appear to have been 89.5 degrees off the Egyptian coast on Aug. 15, 2024, and 88.4 degrees at that same Dragonera buoy west of Mallorca in August 2022.

Regardless, given the persistent heat since May, water temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea are over 7 degrees Fahrenheit above average in some areas, near record warm for this time of year in data since 1982.

Some parts of the sea are as warm or warmer than the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean Sea.

This off the charts warm water is important because it helps keep the air hot and humid near the coast, including at night.

Caitlin Kaiser graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with both an undergraduate and graduate degree in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences before starting her career as a digital meteorologist with weather.com.