The UK has broken its all-time temperature record for June and France has recorded its hottest day ever for the second day running, as a heatwave affecting more than 90 million people sweeps across swathes of Europe.
As the UK and France registered record-breaking temperatures, the World Health Organization warned that the extreme temperatures are “putting lives at risk”.
Temperatures bolstered by climate breakdown hit 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, according to provisional data from the UK Met Office. Earlier in the afternoon 35.8C was logged at Wiggonholt in West Sussex.
France recorded its hottest day ever as the temperature climbed slightly higher than the record set one day earlier. The national weather service, Météo-France, said the country’s national heat index, an average of the day- and night-time highs measured at 30 weather stations across France, hit a new record of 30C (86F), the latest in a series of never-before-registered highs.
The previous record of 29.4C (84.9F) was set during the heatwaves of August 2003 and July 2019.
The previous June record of 35.6C was set in Camden Square in London in 1957 and was reached again in Southampton in 1976. The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK is 40.3C, reached on 19 July 2022 at Coningsby in Lincolnshire.
Much of western Europe continued to swelter under extreme heat. At least 94 million people, most of them in France and Spain, were expected to experience temperatures above 35C, according to AFP calculations.
Across Europe, more than 350 million people – nearly two-thirds of the population – were exposed to temperatures of more than 30C, the news agency added.
In Spain, the national weather agency said the daily average temperature on Monday was 28.08C and 28.17C on Tuesday – the highest ever recorded for June, while France expanded the number of departments under red alert.
Météo-France placed 72 departments – home to more than three-quarters of the population of mainland France – under red alerts for extreme heat on Thursday, up from 58 one day earlier.
As Météo-France forecast that the extreme heat would continue into the weekend across much of the country, officials rescheduled end-of-school exams and shortened visiting hours at the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.
The city of Paris said it was launching a “level 4 heatwave plan” that included measures such as keeping most parks and gardens open all night and extending the hours of municipal swimming pools. Outreach teams were also being deployed to contact people living on the streets, it said in a statement.
Across Italy, 16 cities including Rome were under red alert for heat, with construction workers and delivery riders told not to work between 12.30pm and 4pm.
Across Europe, schools, hospitals, care homes and workplaces have struggled to handle sweltering temperatures that stress organs and push people beyond what their bodies can handle. Coping measures this week have resulted in trains driving slower, hospitals cancelling appointments, schools closing early or completely, and hosepipe bans.
In the UK, poorly insulated buildings and inadequately adapted infrastructure struggled to cope with the extreme heat. At least 1,000 schools and nurseries will be partly or fully closed in England and Wales on Thursday and Friday, with some bringing in early finishing times or relaxed uniforms. Transport bosses have urged people to avoid travelling and are warning those that do to “prepare for a disrupted journey”.
The Met Office issued a rare red extreme heat warning for 9am on Wednesday until 9pm on Thursday. Further amber warnings are in place for Friday and Saturday.
“To see temperatures like this in the UK in June is sobering,” said Stephen Belcher, the Met Office’s chief scientist. “Events like this bring home the implications of climate change, with very high temperatures and humidity bringing significant health implications from heat stress, as well as impacts to a range of sectors such as transport, energy and water supply.”
Heatwaves kill tens of thousands of people across Europe each year and the most scorching extremes have grown hotter, longer and more common as the planet has warmed. Climate breakdown is thought to have increased temperatures by 2C to 4C, according to a rapid analysis published by ClimaMeter on Monday.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said Europe’s heatwave was “putting lives at risk” on Wednesday. He urged world leaders to invest more in resilient health systems and act faster on the climate emergency.
“The data [is] clear: temperatures across Europe are rising at roughly twice the global average rate, increasing the likelihood and severity of extreme heat in the future,” he said. “We cannot afford further delay.”
France, which recorded 40 deaths from drowning as people sought to escape the heat, experienced its hottest night on record on Monday, followed by its hottest day on record on Tuesday, according to averaged temperature data from Météo-France.
In Spain, one in every eight weather stations recorded temperatures above 40C on Monday. Temperatures are slightly cooler in central Europe but are creeping higher, with Germany expected to hit 40C at the weekend.
Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said: “Red extreme heat weather warnings are rare so when the Met Office issues one we need to take it seriously, especially if you are an older person living with underlying health conditions like heart or lung problems that increase your risk of heat-related harm.”
She urged vulnerable people to take extra care over the next few days and called on the public at large to look out for older people around them.
“There are lots of simple precautions that older people can take to stay safe, such as keeping in the shade, drinking plenty of water and confining activities like walking or shopping to early or late in the day, certainly outside the hottest hours between 11am and 3pm,” Abrahams said.
“Keeping your home as cool as possible by closing curtains and windows during the day and opening them at night will make a difference, too.”
