School closures, alcohol bans and slow trains: How Europe’s heatwave is shutting down daily life

Schools closed, alcohol banned and trains cancelled: Europe’s intensifying heatwave is bringing daily life to a standstill.

Temperatures are expected to soar as high as 45°C in parts of Spain, where the first official heatwave of 2026 began on Sunday with red and orange weather alerts across the country.

More than half of France is also on red alert as the country suffers its second extreme heat event of the year, with heat-related deaths already recorded over the weekend. The UK, too, is under a severe high temperature warning, with highs of 38°C anticipated in the south. Germany, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland are among the other countries also facing extreme heat.

“Human-driven climate change has provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past,” Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the University of Reading's National Centre for Atmospheric Science in the UK tells French news agency AFP.

More than 62,000 people died from heat-related causes across Europe during 2024 – the continent’s hottest year on record – a figure that experts warn will rise as temperatures continue to climb.

The elderly, young children, and those with pre-existing health conditions face the greatest risk, along with Europe’s hundreds of thousands of seasonal outdoor workers – the majority of whom are migrants.

France closes schools as heatwave takes grip

In France, officials have closed 845 schools today (Monday 22 June) with another 1,800 set to let students leave earlier than normal, AFP reports.

It comes just a week after French Education Minister Édouard Geffray proposed shifting exam times so they don’t take place at the hottest times of day, given the increasingly extreme and early onset of heatwaves in the country.

Since then, regional authorities in Île-de-France have announced €1 million in aid for 500 examination centres to purchase cooling equipment such as fans and water spray systems.

While there have not yet been mass closures announced across the Channel in the UK, some schools have relaxed their uniform rules to improve comfort for students and risk assessments are being undertaken to protect children and teachers.

The UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) recently called for air conditioning to be installed in all schools within the next 25 years as extreme heat is projected to worsen. While AC can act as a life-saving tool during intense heat, it is also contributing to the problem by releasing planet-heating CO2 and refrigerants.

Train services cut in France and Belgium

Commuters in Paris and Belgium face cuts to train services early this week to reduce the risk of breakdowns blocking the tracks.

Track distortions, embankment fires and sagging power lines are among the hazards facing railways as temperatures ramp up.

In Île-de-France, where one in 10 trains was cancelled on Monday to protect overheating rail network infrastructure, regional president Valérie Pécresse advised against unnecessary travel and urged people to work from home, according to AFP.

Some UK rail operators have also amended their services with fewer trains and slightly longer journey times expected during the warmest periods of each day. This is because extreme heat can cause rails to expand and buckle, so when temperatures reach certain thresholds, trains must run more slowly to keep services safe, Great Western Railway (GWR) explains.

Swimming warnings and alcohol bans

France’s annual street music festival Fête de la Musique went ahead over the weekend despite the heat but the government banned alcohol consumption in public places under red alert to reduce the risk of dehydration. Some events were cancelled or moved indoors to shield from the heat.

In Paris, revellers cooled off from the festivities in Canal Saint-Martin, which opened to swimmers on 17 June. But authorities have advised extreme caution when bathing in rivers and lakes after both France and Germany reported a surge in drownings over the weekend.

Swimmers are urged to keep to supervised areas where lifeguards are on duty, avoid jumping into natural rivers with strong currents, and be cautious of cold water shock by easing into the water slowly to allow time for the body to adjust to the change in temperature.

Wildfires force evacuations in France

The intense heat is also worsening wildfire and drought risk in affected countries, particularly since soil remains parched following the May heatwave. This causes surface temperatures to rise faster than normal, and means there is plenty of dried out vegetation for fires to feed on.

In France, the threat is already materialising: a fire in the Cher department, which has been under a red heatwave alert since Sunday, burned 25 hectares of crops and forced around 50 people to evacuate, according to AFP.