This week, the world's first named heat wave "Zoe" hit Seville, Spain, with temperatures reaching 43°C, receiving the most severe tier in the city's new heat wave ranking system.
Last month, Seville officially launched a new pilot program for naming and ranking heat waves, similar to hurricanes.
Only the most severe heat waves get names listed in reverse alphabetical order. After Zoe, comes Yago, Xenia, Wenceslao and Vega.
The new ranking system uses three-tiered ranking to categorize heat waves, with Category 1 as the lowest and Category 3 as the most severe.
Each tier triggers a set of emergency responses, like issuing weather alerts, opening cooling centers and dispatching teams to check on vulnerable populations.
This year, was the second warmest June on record across Europe, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
