The UK and Switzerland both recorded the hottest-ever June temperatures on Thursday, while brutally hot conditions supercharged by the climate crisis were linked to the death of a third toddler in France and a sharp rise in medical emergencies across Europe.
The UK’s new provisional high of 36.7C (98.06F), recorded in Merryfield, Somerset, surpassed Wednesday’s June record of 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, which had beaten the previous peak of 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976.