Germany’s highest ever temperature – 41.3C in the city of Saarbrücken, just over the border from France – was provisionally recorded on Friday, as a deadly heatwave that has already claimed lives in Spain and France moved slowly north and east, shattering records across the continent.
Belgium and the Netherlands also saw June records broken, with 40C unofficially recorded in Kleine Brogel near the Dutch border, said Belgian forecaster David Dehenauw, while the southern Dutch province of Limburg hit 39.4C. In the UK, a provisional June record of 37.1C was logged at Cavendish in Suffolk.
“Germany records highest-ever temperature of 41.3C as deadly heatwave spreads across Europe, breaking records in multiple countries.”
By Saturday, the heatwave was spreading further. Denmark registered its highest temperature on record, the Danish meteorological institute announcing: “With 36.6C north of Odense, we have the warmest day ever since measurements began in 1874.” Slovakia confirmed that Friday night was its warmest on record, with temperatures not dropping below 26.3C.
“The heatwave is going to peak at the weekend at well over 40 degrees in some parts of Germany,” said Karsten Brandt, a meteorologist at the weather forecasting site Donnerwetter. Germany’s national meteorological service issued extreme heat warnings for nearly all of the country on Saturday, urging people to save water, with local highs of 42C possible.
The extreme heat has had deadly consequences. France’s health minister expressed particular concern about “the emergence of deaths at home” as the heatwave peaked there on consecutive days. At least 150 million people across Europe faced temperatures above 35C on Friday, according to AFP news agency calculations.
“We need to get used to it, unfortunately,” said Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization, warning of “major impacts” to health, ecosystems, agriculture and labour.
Scientists at World Weather Attribution said June was warming faster than any other month and that the current heatwave over the region was “the most severe ever recorded”. The Guardian reports that scientists said the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without human-made climate change.
Infrastructure has buckled under the heat. In Switzerland, the Beznau nuclear power plant took both reactors off grid on Friday because the temperature in the River Aare reached 25C, a measure to protect the environment. A Eurostar rail service from Cologne to Paris broke down east of Brussels with about 400 people on board on Friday morning; three passengers were treated in hospital as a precaution.
Italy’s health ministry issued a red alert for 18 cities including Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice, Genoa, Florence and Bologna for Saturday and Sunday, with temperatures expected to climb as high as 39C in some areas. The French prime minister’s office said that although the heatwave was moving on, pressure on the healthcare system would persist and hospital admissions would stay high for several days. Reports of wildfires in France are up compared with the same period last year as a result of the heatwave, officials say.