Viral videos show traffic lights melting because of Europe’s heatwave.

Authoritative fact-checks from multiple outlets show that the viral videos of "melting" traffic lights in Europe were caused by nearby fires, not by high air temperatures during the heatwave, and there is no credible evidence that the heatwave itself melted traffic lights.

Some outlets and social posts uncritically repeated the viral videos with captions claiming that extreme temperatures of 40–45°C in Italy and Germany had melted traffic lights, but these reports did not provide independent verification and have since been contradicted by investigations tracing the incidents to fire damage.[2][3][4]

viral videos show traffic lights melting europes heatwave

Viral videos show traffic lights melting because of Europe’s heatwave.

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