ferryman

European news outlets are referring to the latest heat wave in Southern Europe as “Caronte,” after the ferryman in Dante Alighieri’s poem “Inferno.”

An anticyclone nicknamed Charon - who in Greek mythology was the ferryman of the dead - could cause Europe to break its highest recorded temperature of 48.8C, possibly on the Italian island of Sardinia.

The Italian weather service said the island will be at the "epicentre" of next week's heatwave, which weather forecasters have dubbed Charon, after the ferryman who delivered souls into the underworld in Greek mythology.

Italian weather forecasters are warning that the next heatwave - dubbed Charon after the ferryman who delivered souls into the underworld in Greek mythology - will push temperatures back up above 40C next week.

Italian meteorologists have dubbed the next phase of the European heatwave "Charon" - a reference to the ferryman of the souls of the dead in Greek mythology.