Europe’s deadly heat wave continued to spread Thursday, with more than 100 million people facing temperatures above 35°C, Britain recording its hottest June day on record and authorities across the continent reporting deaths, school closures, transport disruptions and a rush for fans and air conditioners.
Forecasters said at least 380 million Europeans, more than two-thirds of the continent’s population, endured temperatures above 30°C in recent hours, while at least 101 million faced temperatures above 35°C. By midday, temperatures reached 40°C in Paris, 36°C in Brussels, 35°C in Barcelona and Geneva, 34°C in Berlin and Prague, 33°C in Budapest and Vienna, and 32°C in London.
The heat has already proved deadly. In Spain, more than 200 deaths this week were linked to the heat, according to the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid. In France, dozens of people drowned in recent days while trying to cool off in seas, rivers and lakes, including 21-year-old French footballer Kenzo Kies, who died after being pulled unconscious from the Rhône River near Lyon.
The extreme conditions are being driven by a rare weather pattern known as an “omega block,” named for the Greek letter Ω. The system traps a dome of hot air in place between areas of cooler air, allowing temperatures to climb day after day. In parts of Europe, the pattern has pushed temperatures as much as 18°C above average.
Water spray in Cologne, Germany
(Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
Brighton, England
(Photo: CARLOS JASSO / AFP)
France has been among the hardest-hit countries. About 63 million people there faced temperatures above 30°C on Thursday, including 53 million exposed to more than 35°C. Germany, Italy and Britain also saw widespread extreme heat, with similar conditions forecast across Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Czechia and Croatia.
Spain began to see some relief Thursday after days of dangerous heat. No region remained under the country’s two highest heat-warning levels, but the Carlos III Health Institute said at least 212 deaths recorded from Sunday to Wednesday could be linked to the heat. Monday and Tuesday were Spain’s hottest June days since 1950, with average national temperatures of 28.17°C and 28.08°C.
Spain’s hottest summer commodity: a fan for sale in a Madrid store
(Photo: Thomas COEX / AFP)
(Photo: REUTERS/Tom Nicholson/File Photo/File Photo)
In France, the death of Kies drew tributes from Guingamp, the Ligue 2 club where he played, and Saint-Étienne, whose academy he had attended. French authorities have warned of a sharp rise in drownings during the heat wave as people seek relief in unsupervised waters.
A three-year-old boy also died in the Paris region after apparently becoming trapped inside a family car. Earlier this week, French authorities reported two similar deaths involving children trapped in vehicles.
France on Wednesday recorded what meteorologists described as one of the hottest days in the country’s history, with the national average from 30 weather stations reaching 30°C. Several cities surpassed 40°C, while Paris reached 40.9°C, a new June record.
Barcelona
(Photo: REUTERS/Nacho Doce)
Paris officials urged residents to slow down, avoid unnecessary activity and use public cooling spaces. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu activated the highest mobilization level for health services, allowing hospitals to postpone non-urgent surgeries in order to focus on heat-related cases.
France’s education minister said 13,500 schools were closed or shifted to special operating formats on Thursday. The country’s main energy supplier also shut down two nuclear reactors as an environmental precaution, seeking to avoid discharging too much warm water into rivers already heated by the record-breaking conditions.
Italy also reported its first heat-related deaths this week. According to Italian media, at least five people died on Wednesday in incidents linked to the heat, including two farmers, a worker and a homeless man. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci convened a meeting to discuss the risks posed by the weather.
Britain broke its June heat record for the second day in a row. After 36.1°C was recorded Wednesday in Hampshire, the temperature climbed to 36.4°C on Thursday in Yeovilton, Somerset, making it the UK’s hottest June day ever.
More than 1,000 schools in Britain closed fully or partially as temperatures in some classrooms rose above 40°C. Several major London attractions shut their doors, including Tower Bridge, and the Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace was canceled because of the heat.
Rail travel across London and southern England was also disrupted. Operators advised passengers to avoid nonessential journeys, with speed restrictions imposed to reduce the risk of rails bending in the heat or overhead power lines sagging.
The Reichstag in Berlin, Germany
(Photo: RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP)
While Britain was nearing the end of an unusually hot week, and Spain and France were preparing for gradual relief, Germany, Austria and parts of Italy were bracing for an especially severe weekend.
Germany’s national weather service issued extreme heat warnings for large parts of the west, where temperatures were expected to reach 38°C on Thursday and up to 41°C in the coming days. Deutsche Bahn said passengers could cancel journeys because of the heat, and a half-marathon planned for Sunday in Hamburg was postponed.
In Austria, the national weather service issued its highest-level red heat warning for the northeast of the country, including Vienna, where temperatures could reach 40°C over the weekend. Formula 1’s governing body declared a heat hazard ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, requiring teams to install driver-cooling systems such as liquid-cooled vests, though drivers are not required to use them.
Across Europe, residents have crowded into stores in search of fans and portable air conditioners. Advanced home air-conditioning systems remain relatively uncommon on the continent, but Asian manufacturers including Samsung, Midea and Mitsubishi Electric are seeing surging demand in countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
Scientists warn that human-caused climate change is making Europe’s heat waves more frequent and more intense. The burning of gasoline, oil and coal, along with deforestation, wildfires and industrial emissions, releases heat-trapping gases that fuel hotter and drier extremes.
The World Health Organization estimates that in the past four years, more than 200,000 people in Europe have died from heat-related causes, most of them preventable. For many on the continent, this week’s heat wave is already the second major one since the start of summer.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising at about twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The EU monitoring agency found that 2024 was the hottest year on record both globally and in Europe, where the continent experienced its second-highest number of days with severe heat stress.