Tourists have flocked to a giant thermometer in China showing surface temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius while the death toll from torrential rains in South Korea hit 44, the latest extreme weather sparking havoc and curiosity around the world.
Wildfires burned for a third day west of the Greek capital Athens, with air water bombers resuming operations at first light and firefighters working throughout the night to keep flames away from a complex of coastal refineries.
In a stifling Beijing, United States climate envoy John Kerry began the third day of talks with Chinese officials, expressing hope co-operation to combat global warming could redefine troubled ties between the two superpowers.
A global pattern of heatwaves that have scorched parts of Europe, Asia and the US this week has thrown that challenge into sharp relief.
The World Meteorological Organisation warned on Tuesday of an increased risk of deaths linked to excessively high temperatures.
Hawaii's Big Island was bracing for the impact of Tropical Storm Calvin, expected to bring as much as 20.3 centimetres of rain and strong wind gusts, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
In South Korea, deluges of rain have pummelled central and southern regions since last week.
Fourteen deaths occurred in an underpass in the central city of Cheongju, where more than a dozen vehicles were swamped on Saturday when a river levee collapsed.
In the southeastern province of North Gyeongsang, 22 people died, many from landslides and swirling torrents.
This year’s casualties have rekindled questions over South Korea’s efforts to prevent and respond to flood damage, less than one year after the heaviest downpours in 115 years pounded Seoul.
President Yoon Suk Yeol has said the situation was made worse because of lax management of vulnerable areas and failures to follow rules, and designated 13 flood-hit areas as special disaster zones on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo called for faster repair efforts to head off additional damage, warning more heavy rainfall was forecast for the weekend.
In China's western Xinjiang province, tourists armed with broad-brimmed hats and umbrellas braved scorching temperatures to take selfies with a giant thermometer that displayed a real-time surface temperature of 80C, state television showed.
Tourists flock to the Flaming Mountains on the northern rim of Xinjiang's Turpan Depression each summer to admire not just their corrugated slopes of brown-red sandstone but to take in the super-charged heat emanating from the ground.
In recent days, temperatures in Xinjiang and other parts of Asia, as well as Europe and the US, have shattered records.
On Sunday, a remote township in the Turpan Depression registered a maximum air temperature of 52.2C, smashing China's national record of 50.3C set in 2015, also in the basin.
On Tuesday, Beijing logged its 27th day of temperatures of more than 35C, setting a local record for high-temperature days in a year.
The Chinese capital's previous record was 26 days, set in 2000.
These unprecedented temperatures have added new urgency for nations around the globe to tackle climate change that scientists say will make heatwaves more frequent, severe and lethal.
In contrast to the extreme heat, heavy rains, thunderstorms, gales and hail are expected to lash other parts of China in the next 18 hours, the country's National Meteorological Centre said.
