Europe braces for new heatwave as record temperatures ease in west
Record heat in France, Spain and the UK eased, but Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Denmark faced the next surge as the Balkans moved into focus.
Highway damage and train cancellations hit Germany as the late-June heatwave shifted east, and the World Meteorological Organization warned the same system would keep pushing dangerous temperatures across Central Europe before turning toward the Balkans. Temperatures were running 3C to 10C above the weekly average in affected areas, and daily highs above 35C were likely in many places.
On June 26, the heatwave had shattered numerous temperature records and hit human health, ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure and labour productivity. Europe has warmed by about 2C over the past 50 years since the 1976 heatwave, making it the world’s fastest-warming continent, with high confidence that human activity has driven the observed rise.
France took the worst of the western European heat first. France recorded its hottest day on record on June 24, with a national average temperature of 30.0C, breaking previous national records from July 2019 and August 2003. Temperatures reached 43.8C in Pulluau in western France, while authorities issued top-level red alerts for a record 58 departments and warned of greater forest-fire risk as drought worsened. The WMO’s June 26 update counted 40 drowning deaths in France during the heat.
Spain logged its hottest June days on June 23 and 24, with temperatures above 40C in several places. In the United Kingdom, the Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning for June 24 and 25, with the warning taking effect at 0900 on June 24 and highs forecast at 37C to 39C. The office later recorded a provisional June daily high of 36.1C at Gosport in southern England, and the country’s June record of 35.6C was very likely to be exceeded.
By June 27, record highs had also been set in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Denmark, while unusually high temperatures reached the Nordic countries. UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the heatwave had “the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it,” and heat-health action plans were being mobilized as the shock moved from western Europe into the continent’s center.
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