Red heatwave alerts spread across Europe with hottest day ever in France and 40 deaths from drowning

Europe’s early heatwave continues to wreak havoc as temperatures creep to new highs and red alerts spread across the continent.

Yesterday was the hottest day ever in France, leading to power cuts and tragic deaths.

Hundreds of schools in the UK are closed due to worries that students can not be kept safe in sweltering buildings.

Italy has issued extreme heat warnings for 16 cities, while in Spain there is good news as the heatwave begins to abate.

Extreme weather is getting worse as climate change speeds up

The extreme weather is being driven by a heat dome, which is trapping hot air over large parts of Europe.

Human-caused climate change is making the ongoing heatwave up to 4°C hotter, according to analysis from Climameter: Paris is currently about 2.4°C warmer, Milan 3.8°C and Zaragoza 4°C.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

“Human-induced climate change made this heatwave exceptional," says Emma Holmberg at the University of Bern, Switzerland, who contributed to the report. "Already in June we are seeing dangerous levels of heat, which places severe stress both on infrastructure and individuals.”

Over the last four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month.

In Western Europe, extreme heat events have already been rising faster than climate models predicted. Recent studies have found that the Mediterranean could face double the number of heat events previously anticipated.

UN climate agency projections say the next five years are likely to shatter more heat records.

France records hottest day on record

France recorded its hottest day ever on Tuesday (23 June), with the country's national thermal indicator – an average of temperatures measured at 30 weather stations – reading 29.8°C. In some towns, daytime highs climbed well above 40°C.

France’s previous hottest days were recorded during heatwaves of August 2003 – which caused an estimated 15,000 deaths – and July 2019, with an average temperature of 29.4°C.

The unprecedented highs are expected to continue at least until the weekend, with the Météo-France weather service warning that “further record-breaking temperatures are expected”.

Over 68,000 homes have been left without power in the northwest department of Finistère, due to a heat-related incident at a transformer that took place on Tuesday evening.

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum have restricted visiting hours due to the unrelenting heat, with temperatures of 40°C forecast for Wednesday.

France has recorded 40 fatalities from drowning in the past week as people seek relief in rivers and other bodies of water, despite authorities’ warnings about unsupervised swimming. Most of the drownings involved young people, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said.

A growing number of regions will tip into the red again on Wednesday as the heat spreads across more than half of the country, including the northernmost tip of France, according to Météo-France.

While a pause in extreme heat is expected towards the end of this week, French environment minister Monique Barbut has warned that the country’s heatwave could start up again next week and stretch until 14 July.

UK closes schools due to heat

Hundreds of UK schools have been closed today (24 June) as a rare red weather warning comes into force. The country is bracing for record-breaking temperatures.

The heat warning issued by the Met Office weather agency is in place until Thursday, with highs of 37°C expected in southern England and up to 35°C in southeast Wales. London could face highs of 39°C as more than 75,000 people flock to the capital for London Climate Action Week – the world’s biggest climate week.

Multiple UK train operators, including the express train serving London Gatwick Airport, were forced to cancel or reduce services on Tuesday to avoid heat-related problems. Railway operators urged people to travel only if “absolutely necessary” on Wednesday and Thursday.

Conditions are expected to ease by Friday, according to the Met Office.

Italy on red alert for heat

Italy has put 16 cities on red alert for heatwaves today (24 June), including Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice and Bologna. People have been advised to eat light foods and stay indoors during the hottest times of the day.

A spike in households using air-conditioning for cooling has sparked blackouts in Milan and Turin, while hospitals in Parma have reported a sharp rise in emergency visits.

Rome public bus operator ATAC says the extreme heat has put its electric fleet to the test, with a rise in air-con use forcing vehicles to return early to the depots for charging.

Heatwave starts to cool in Spain

In Spain, the extreme heat is starting to abate, with national weather service Aemet saying temperatures would drop in most of the country by Wednesday afternoon.

Parts of the Basque country in northern Spain will remain on red alert, but this is expected to end by Thursday with no areas rated red or orange.

It will come as a relief after temperatures reached 44°C southern Andalusia on Tuesday and 40°C in the normally temperate Cantabria and the Basque Country regions.

Of the dozen heat waves Aemet has recorded in June since it started tracking them in 1975, half have occurred since 2015, according to meteorologist Rubén del Campo. He warns that Spain’s heatwaves are becoming more frequent, longer and increasingly occurring outside the traditional window of July and August.

High-level heat warnings have also been issued in western Poland, where record temperatures are anticipated, while Hungary will raise its heat alert to the highest level between Saturday and Tuesday.

Further heatwave alerts have been issued in Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.