36 minutes ago
By Laura Paddison, CNN
Sunbathers play in the sea and relax in the sunshine on Bournemouth beach on the south coast of England.
Temperature records are being smashed across Europe as parts of the continent swelter in a heat wave that is bringing extreme temperatures alarmingly early in the year.
The continent is grappling with a powerful heat dome, a persistent high-pressure system which acts like a lid on a pot, trapping hot air and pushing it downward. It can remain in place for days or even weeks and is a weather phenomenon made more likely and more intense by human-caused climate change.
