Southern Europe is reeling from its first major heatwave of the summer, with temperatures soaring to a staggering 46°C (114.8°F) in parts of Spain and nearly all of mainland France placed under heat alert.
From Portugal to Greece, the searing heat, made stronger by fossil fuel pollution,has pushed infrastructure, public services, and residents to their limits.
The record-breaking heat has triggered health warnings, hospital surges, school closures, and wildfire fears across the region.
In Spain, which has had the worst of the weather, a provisional June temperature record of 46°C was set on Saturday afternoon in El Granado, in the Andalucían province of Huelva.
The highest temperature previously recorded for June was 45.2°C logged in Seville in 1965.
Sunday was the hottest June 29 in Spain on record, according to records from Aemet, the Spanish meteorological agency, that stretch back to 1950. The heat is expected to last till Thursday.
The southern Spanish city of Seville is forecast to roast in more than 40°C heat for the next three days and face night-time temperatures of at least 25°C until Thursday morning.
Doctors have expressed alarm at the combination of hot days and uncomfortably warm nights, which can place a lethal stress on the human body.
In Italy, where 21 out of 27 cities were placed on the highest heat alert on Sunday, hospital admissions in some of the hottest regions – such as Tuscany – are up 20%. People have been advised not to venture outside between 11am and 6pm.
In France, heat warnings covered nearly the entire mainland for the first time in history.
Météo-France has placed 88% of administrative areas under the second-highest orange heat alerts. The Ecology Minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said, “This is unprecedented.”
The French government asked businesses to adapt staff hours to protect workers from the heat, and 200 public schools are to be partly or totally closed on Monday and Tuesday.
The first fire of the summer broke out in France in the south-west of the country at the weekend, burning 400 hectares and leading to the precautionary evacuation of more than 100 people from their homes.
In Portugal, where seven of 18 regions are under red warnings of “extreme risk”, meteorologists expect the weather to cool down on Wednesday night.
Countries farther north are also in danger. The German weather service has said that heat and dry weather are stoking the risk of forest fires, with some cities imposing limits on water extraction as temperatures in parts of the country approach 40°C by Wednesday.
The New Normal
Speaking at a development conference in Seville, António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, noted, “Extreme heat is no longer a rare event – it has become the new normal.”
He stated that the planet is getting “hotter and more dangerous.”
Guterres called for more action to stop climate change, saying, “No country is immune.”
Heat kills an estimated half a million people globally each year, with older people and those with chronic illness particularly vulnerable.
The extreme temperatures across Europe are a result of a heat dome that is trapping an area of high pressure and hot air.
It comes amid an ongoing marine heatwave that has left the Mediterranean 5C hotter than normal, according to data from the University of Maine’s climate change institute.
Dr Michael Byrne, a Climate Scientist at the University of St Andrews, said that heat domes were nothing new but the temperatures they delivered were.
“Europe is more than 2C warmer than in preindustrial times, so when a heat dome occurs it drives a hotter heatwave.”
Dr Michael Byrne
Doctors across the continent warned people to take extra care in the hot weather, encouraging them to stay out of the heat, drink lots of water, wear loose clothing and check in on vulnerable neighbours.
Researchers estimate that dangerous temperatures in Europe will kill 8,000 to 80,000 more people by the end of the century, as the lives lost to stronger heat outpace those saved from milder cold.
