App offers cool advice on heat risks as Greece sizzles

ATHENS - As Greece was in the grip of the first heat wave of the summer on Sunday, with the temperature rising to 40 C in many parts of the mainland, including the capital Athens, a smartphone app was unveiled with the aim of reducing heat risks.

The Extrema Athens app, launched by the City of Athens in collaboration with Greece's National Observatory, can be used to assess the dangers of excessive heat based on one's profile and location.

"The benefit is that you get personalized estimates of your heat risk and then you get advice based on your profile and also the nearest cooling centers and cool locations that you can access on foot when you are in the city," said Iphigenia Keramitsoglou, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens.