Moscow ? It’s so hot that women in bikinis are sunbathing in Moscow.

A heat wave across much of Europe also is causing crops to wither, forest fires to ignite and roads to melt, while refrigerators and fans are buckling in the searing sun.

From Russia’s Urals mountains to western Germany, a week of temperatures hovering stubbornly in the mid-90s has baked northern parts of Europe, which are usually spared the heat of the Mediterranean — and forecasters are warning of more to come over the next week.

People were finding ways to beat the heat. There was the rare sight of women in bikinis sunbathing Thursday in Kolomenskoye park in Moscow, while other people tried to cool off by soaking themselves in fountains and playing in water jets in the Russian capital, Belarus and other parts of Europe.