Europe on high alert as heatwave creeps north
Withering conditions that have baked southern Europe for days crept northward where such extremes are much rarer, with Paris on "red alert" and high temperature warnings issued in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.
Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a "silent killer."
Scientists said it was unusual for such heat to hit Europe this early in the season, but that human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels was making these once-rare events far more likely.
Records have tumbled, with France and Portugal experiencing their highest-ever single-day temperatures in June, Spain its warmest June, and the Netherlands its hottest opening day of July.
In England, the weather service said it was the hottest June since records began in 1884.
The Mediterranean Sea recorded a new June high of 26.01°C on Sunday, just the latest abnormal marine heatwave in the basin, harming sea life and turbocharging storms.
The summit of the Eiffel Tower was shut for a second straight day, and was due to remain closed on Wednesday.
On Tuesday in Brussels, the city's Atomium monument, famed for its giant stainless steel balls, was exceptionally shut as temperatures reached 37°C.
Under scorching skies, Paris imposed its first "red alert" in five years, empowering officials to limit or ban sporting events, festivals and school outings for children.
The heat is expected to peak on Tuesday, with Paris facing highs of 38°C, but authorities have extended the alert into Wednesday.
Some parks will remain open all night, pools have extended visiting hours, and cooling centres in churches and museums are offering respite from the lack of greenery and concrete surfaces that amplify the heat.
"We're living a bit like moles," Nicole, 85, told AFP in the stifling air of her apartment in a tower block in Paris.
Across France, the government said it expected nearly 1,350 schools to be partially or completely shut, with teachers complaining that overheated and unventilated classrooms were making students unwell.
Authorities are fanning out to check on the elderly, chronically ill and the homeless.
"When it's cold, I add blankets and hats. But when it's hot like this, what can I do? Nothing, just wait for it to pass and hope I don't faint," said Jo, a 55-year-old homeless man in Bordeaux, in southwestern France.
As far north as the Netherlands, some regions were placed on the second-highest alert on Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 38C.
Schools in Rotterdam and across West Brabant province adopted "tropical schedules" to ensure students started and finished earlier to avoid the worst of the day's heat.
In Germany, temperatures could peak at 40°C on Wednesday.
In Spain and Portugal, where highs of 46°C were recorded in some locations over the weekend, a level of respite was expected, though temperatures could still exceed 40°C in parts.
A two-year-old boy died in northeastern Spain on Tuesday after being left in the back of a car parked in the sun, police said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said its teams of volunteers had mobilised across Europe to give out water and assist the most vulnerable.
"Extreme heat doesn't have to be a disaster: knowledge, preparedness and early action make all the difference," said IFRC spokesman Tommaso Della Longa.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, said despite cities taking strides to adapt to heatwaves, this latest episode was still exposing millions of Europeans to danger.
"We're still seeing infrastructure challenges associated with heatwaves, pressure on national healthcare systems, and we still have excess deaths," she told reporters.
A heatwave in 2022 killed an estimated 60,000 people across Europe, mostly elderly.
The World Meteorological Organisation said Tuesday that heat was a "silent killer" and the death toll from prolonged, extreme exposure was often under-reflected in official statistics.
Spokeswoman Clare Nullis said every death from heat was unnecessary, and society would have to adapt to more heatwaves in future.
Agence France-Presse
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Etihad
14 hours ago
- Al Etihad
Two dead in Spain fire as heatwave scorches Europe
2 July 2025 09:11 BARCELONA (AFP)Firefighters in Spain have said they found two bodies after a blaze in the northeast of the country, which is in the midst of a brutal heatwave across Europe this week broke high temperature records, caused the closure of schools and increased the risk of in Spain's Catalonia region on Tuesday confined about 14,000 people to their homes due to two wildfires that broke out almost simultaneously in the province of one of the blazes, near the city of Cosco, "two people were found lifeless by firefighters", the fire and emergency service said in a exact cause of the fire was unclear, but the service said the recent heat, dry conditions and strong winds caused by storms had increased the intensity of the regional president Salvador Illa said he was "dismayed after learning of the death of two people as a result of the fire", in a post on earlier, police in the region had reported the death of a two-year-old boy after he was left in a parked car in the sun for several is in the midst of an intense heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places and several heat records set for the month of person died in the southern city of Cordoba and another in Barcelona, both while doing road work on Saturday and likely victims of to scientists, extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and storms, are becoming more intense due to man-made climate change. Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a "silent killer".
Al Etihad
a day ago
- Al Etihad
Child dies as heat records broken in Spain and Portugal
MADRID (AFP) A two-year-old child died in northeast Spain on Tuesday after being left in a car for several hours during a heatwave that has pounded the country and neighbouring Portugal. Governmental Emergency Services in Valls, in the Tarragona region, were alerted in the early afternoon but were unable to resuscitate the child, a police spokesperson told AFP. "Everything seems to indicate that it was negligence on the father's part. The child spent the entire morning in a locked car under the sun," they added. "It was heatstroke. Even an adult would have died." Temperatures in Valls reached up to 32 degrees Celsius in the shade on Tuesday morning, according to the national meteorological agency Aemet. Spain has been hit for several days by intense heat that has spread across the Iberian peninsula to France, Italy, the Balkans and Greece, triggering health warnings and alerts over the risk of forest fires. Several areas of the country have seen the thermometer rise to well above 40 °C and record highs for June. Aemet said earlier on Tuesday that Spain had had its hottest June on record, with an average temperature of 23.6°C - beating the previous high of 22.8°C set in 2017. On Saturday, two road workers died of suspected heatstroke in Cordoba, in the south, and Barcelona, in the northeast. In Portugal, the country recorded its highest-ever single-day temperature in June - 46.4°C - on Sunday in Mora, some 100 kilometres east of the capital, Lisbon. The previous June high was 44.9 °C in the southwestern town of Alcacer do Sal in 2017, the IMPA weather agency said. Some 37 per cent of IPMA monitoring stations recorded temperatures higher than 40 °C on Sunday, it added. A number of regions, including around the capital, were put on red alert on Sunday and Monday. Eight Portuguese inland regions remained on the second-highest alert with the highest risk of forest fires, especially woodland areas in the centre and north of the country. Human-induced climate change is being blamed for stoking hotter and more intense heatwaves, particularly in cities, where tightly packed buildings amplify temperatures.
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Europe on high alert as heatwave creeps north
Schools were partially shut in France, iconic monuments closed to tourists, and cities across Europe put on high alert as a record-breaking early summer heatwave spread across the continent on Tuesday. Withering conditions that have baked southern Europe for days crept northward where such extremes are much rarer, with Paris on "red alert" and high temperature warnings issued in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. Tens of thousands of people have died in Europe during past heatwaves, prompting authorities to issue warnings for old and young, the sick, and others vulnerable to what experts call a "silent killer." Scientists said it was unusual for such heat to hit Europe this early in the season, but that human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels was making these once-rare events far more likely. Records have tumbled, with France and Portugal experiencing their highest-ever single-day temperatures in June, Spain its warmest June, and the Netherlands its hottest opening day of July. In England, the weather service said it was the hottest June since records began in 1884. The Mediterranean Sea recorded a new June high of 26.01°C on Sunday, just the latest abnormal marine heatwave in the basin, harming sea life and turbocharging storms. The summit of the Eiffel Tower was shut for a second straight day, and was due to remain closed on Wednesday. On Tuesday in Brussels, the city's Atomium monument, famed for its giant stainless steel balls, was exceptionally shut as temperatures reached 37°C. Under scorching skies, Paris imposed its first "red alert" in five years, empowering officials to limit or ban sporting events, festivals and school outings for children. The heat is expected to peak on Tuesday, with Paris facing highs of 38°C, but authorities have extended the alert into Wednesday. Some parks will remain open all night, pools have extended visiting hours, and cooling centres in churches and museums are offering respite from the lack of greenery and concrete surfaces that amplify the heat. "We're living a bit like moles," Nicole, 85, told AFP in the stifling air of her apartment in a tower block in Paris. Across France, the government said it expected nearly 1,350 schools to be partially or completely shut, with teachers complaining that overheated and unventilated classrooms were making students unwell. Authorities are fanning out to check on the elderly, chronically ill and the homeless. "When it's cold, I add blankets and hats. But when it's hot like this, what can I do? Nothing, just wait for it to pass and hope I don't faint," said Jo, a 55-year-old homeless man in Bordeaux, in southwestern France. As far north as the Netherlands, some regions were placed on the second-highest alert on Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 38C. Schools in Rotterdam and across West Brabant province adopted "tropical schedules" to ensure students started and finished earlier to avoid the worst of the day's heat. In Germany, temperatures could peak at 40°C on Wednesday. In Spain and Portugal, where highs of 46°C were recorded in some locations over the weekend, a level of respite was expected, though temperatures could still exceed 40°C in parts. A two-year-old boy died in northeastern Spain on Tuesday after being left in the back of a car parked in the sun, police said. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said its teams of volunteers had mobilised across Europe to give out water and assist the most vulnerable. "Extreme heat doesn't have to be a disaster: knowledge, preparedness and early action make all the difference," said IFRC spokesman Tommaso Della Longa. Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, said despite cities taking strides to adapt to heatwaves, this latest episode was still exposing millions of Europeans to danger. "We're still seeing infrastructure challenges associated with heatwaves, pressure on national healthcare systems, and we still have excess deaths," she told reporters. A heatwave in 2022 killed an estimated 60,000 people across Europe, mostly elderly. The World Meteorological Organisation said Tuesday that heat was a "silent killer" and the death toll from prolonged, extreme exposure was often under-reflected in official statistics. Spokeswoman Clare Nullis said every death from heat was unnecessary, and society would have to adapt to more heatwaves in future. Agence France-Presse
