🔴 Latest developments
June 29:- WHO already links the European heat wave to more than 1,300 deaths. The head of the organization describes it as a “silent killer". HVG ↗AD ↗
- Poland recorded 40 °C for the first time in more than a century. Censor.NET ↗
June 28:
- France reports about a thousand excess deaths. Health authorities have recorded about 1000 deaths above the usual average since Wednesday and warn that “summer is only beginning". 20 Minutes ↗
- Heat peaks on Monday, affecting 193 million Europeans. Italy has 18 cities under the highest alert, with records falling across Europe. Il Sole 24 Ore ↗ANSA ↗
- Denmark reached a record 37 °C. The heat is moving north and east across the continent. Público ↗
- A stormy turn claimed lives. In Belgium, one person died after a tree fell on a car; storms and lightning-sparked fires also hit the Netherlands and France. La Libre ↗Het Laatste Nieuws ↗
June 27:
- The record fell for the third day in a row. Britain recorded its hottest June day at 37.3 °C, while the heat is shifting east across the continent. BBC ↗
- France remains with 37 departments under red alert, with a “white plan" in Île-de-France. The Solidays festival and the Paris Pride march were canceled, and Lecornu ordered 30,000 air conditioners for hospitals. BFM TV ↗Nouvel Obs ↗
- Swiss glaciers are melting three months earlier than usual, an expert warns when looking at the record heat wave. G4Media ↗
June 26:
- A record within reach: the highest recorded June temperature is expected. Another maximum was expected to fall on Friday as the heat wave peaks. Tagesschau ↗
- Britain issued a red alert for southeast England after a record June. The Guardian ↗
- France: the number of drownings rose to 55, with calls to cancel the Solidays festival and the Pride march. BFM TV ↗
- Paris banned alcohol sales from 6 p.m. over fears of hospitals being overwhelmed. BFM TV ↗
- EDF released 80 million euros for cooling schools. Ouest-France ↗
- Climate attribution: such a wave would have been impossible without warming, scientists say. AD ↗SVT ↗
- Romania declared the season’s first red code — 16 counties, temperatures up to 40 °C and tropical nights. Digi24 ↗
- Belgium: red code and warning of “overwhelming heat" up to 40 °C (IRM meteorological institute). La Libre ↗
- Italy: red bollino in 18 cities and storm alert in five regions. TGCom24 ↗
- Luxembourg: the Cattenom nuclear power plant must adapt to the heat — the Moselle’s water reached 29 °C. Luxemburger Wort ↗
- Netherlands: unrest at the Defqon.1 festival after an early shutdown because of heat. NU.nl ↗
June 25 (evening):
- Britain: the hottest June in history. The United Kingdom recorded the hottest June day ever measured, and hospitals in England are declaring “critical incidents" as devices and IT systems fail in the heat. The Guardian ↗Guardian ↗
- France raised its health alert to the highest level. At 5 p.m., temperatures reached as high as 40.7 °C, and according to the BBC the wave is moving east across the continent. BBC ↗Le Figaro ↗
- The Netherlands declared “code rood" — for heat for the first time. The KNMI meteorological institute issued its highest alert for Friday for much of the country, for the first time in history because of extreme heat, with temperatures up to 40 °C. NRC ↗NOS ↗
- Switzerland: Basel broke its all-time June record. The thermometer in the city climbed to 38 °C — the highest ever recorded there in June. SRF ↗
Hundreds dead and records falling
In Spain, which is at the forefront of the climate crisis in Europe, the MoMo mortality monitoring system (run by the public Carlos III Health Institute) attributed 212 deaths to heat in the period from Sunday to Wednesday — by comparison, the same four days last year saw 98. The AEMET meteorological service measured 45.1 °C on June 22 in Andújar, Andalusia. Al Arabiya ↗ The Daily Star ↗France became the epicenter of the wave. It experienced the hottest day in its recorded history — a nationwide average of 29.8 °C surpassed the 2019 record — while in one municipality the thermometer showed more than 44 °C. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu linked the heat to the deaths of at least 40 people who drowned while seeking relief in water. A three-year-old child also died in an overheated car. Euronews ↗ Al Jazeera ↗
Red, highest-level heat alerts were in effect simultaneously in Britain, France, Spain and Italy. Several Italian regions banned outdoor work during the hottest midday hours. CNN ↗
Why Europe is so vulnerable
Behind the extreme is a so-called heat dome — a vast area of high pressure that trapped hot air over the continent. But it is not a coincidence: according to climatologists, Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, with temperatures rising here at roughly twice the global average. An analysis by the Climameter initiative estimates that climate change caused by human emissions intensified the current wave by as much as 4 °C. CNBC ↗ TIME ↗The vulnerability is compounded by the fact that much of Europe’s infrastructure, housing and transport networks were designed for a cooler climate. Long periods of extreme heat therefore cause not only health problems but also operational ones — from overloaded energy systems to rail transport disruptions. Al Jazeera ↗
Adaptation lags behind warming
Countries are rushing to adopt measures: Spain is setting up air-conditioned heat “shelters", Italy is restricting outdoor work and France has activated a health emergency plan. But these steps are catching up with a reality that is changing faster — and older people and the chronically ill remain the most vulnerable. Oxfam has warned that in France alone, heat claims more than 5000 lives a year.Read also: Heat kills more than 5000 people a year in France, Oxfam says
What hotinfo is monitoring
- Whether forecasts that the heat wave will last until mid-July are confirmed.
- Whether countries revise the death toll upward after the wave subsides — excess mortality figures are refined with a delay.
- How the EU responds to the adaptation gap: financing cooling infrastructure and rules for work during heat.
- Whether the warning by Austrian scientists comes true that the 1.5 °C warming threshold will be crossed as early as 2026.
