A woman watches a forest fire at Chiliomodi, a few miles off Corinth city, west of Athens. Photo / Reuters

A woman watches a forest fire at Chiliomodi, a few miles off Corinth city, west of Athens. Photo / Reuters

ATHENS - Greece is now on a war footing against weather phenomena "the likes of which we have never seen", warns the country's Public Order Minister Byron Polydoras.

Polydoras was speaking as countries around the Mediterranean roasted, with temperatures soaring to "furnace levels", as one meteorologist described it.

Temperatures are likely to reach 43C in the shade this week, making this the hottest summer on record for Greece in the past century.

Macedonia has declared a state of emergency. Spain, Italy and France are experiencing droughts that are measuring up to become the worst on record.

According to the most recent bulletin from the French Government, the situation remains "preoccupying", with recent rain in the north failing to replenish subterranean reservoirs.

Many politicians now fear the Mediterranean coast may soon become too hot to sustain a viable tourist industry.

"The Mediterranean climate of this country no longer exists. It is changing, perhaps even faster than we expected," said Michalis Petrakis, director of Greece's Institute of Environmental Research at the National Observatory in Athens.

Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Cyprus have all endured searing temperatures over the past few weeks as a region of high pressure extended east from the Azores, blocking weather fronts that normally keep the eastern Mediterranean fairly cool at this time of year.

Forest fires have been raging across the region - Greece's fire service reported 115 fires in one 24-hour period last week.

Last week a five-day blaze on Mount Parnitha destroyed vast tracts of trees, along with hundreds of plants endemic to the region. Unique species of deer, turtles, snakes and hares were killed.

Greek television has carried nightly footage of firefighters battling fires from Thessaloniki in the north to Crete in the south. Tourists had to flee the flames, not least on the Aegean island of Kos, where hoteliers asked guests to pack up and leave even in zones deemed to be safe. As was the case in Athens, many fires came within yards of apartments.

The tourism industry is deeply worried. The Mediterranean's worsening pollution and shifting weather patterns may start to drive away tourists - 15 million people visit Greece each year.

In France, weeks of searing weather have brought climate change back on to the agenda. This year's report from the Government's climate change experts predicted temperatures rising between two and four degrees before the end of the century.