{"id":505378,"date":"2026-06-22T12:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/505378\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T12:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:06:08","slug":"europe-suffers-under-record-heatwave-as-temperatures-forecast-to-reach-44c-extreme-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/505378\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe suffers under record heatwave as temperatures forecast to reach 44C | Extreme heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Europe is enduring a ferocious heatwave forecast to break temperature records, with half of France on red alert, rail services in Belgium disrupted and sports events in Spain and Germany<\/a> cancelled or postponed.<\/p>\n

French authorities on Monday placed 49 of the country\u2019s 96 mainland departments on a level 1 danger-to-life warning, urging 35 million people to exercise \u201cabsolute vigilance\u201d, drink water often, avoid all strenuous exertion and stay out of direct sun.<\/p>\n

Another 40 departments were on a level 2 orange alert. \u201cVery high temperatures are setting in for the long term across the country,\u201d said the national meteorological service, M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France. \u201cDay and night-time temperatures will be exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said temperatures throughout western and central France were likely to exceed 40C from Monday afternoon, hitting 43C in Bordeaux, 41C in Limoges, 40C in Toulouse and Tours and 39C in Paris, and would continue rising until the end of the week.<\/p>\n

Pedestrians cool off under a mist sprayer installed by Paris city hall at the F\u00eate de la Musique on Sunday. Photograph: Guillaume Baptiste\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Night-time lows are also forecast to be far higher than normal for the season until at least Friday, M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France said, with the minimum temperatures recorded in several towns and cities overnight on Sunday already setting all-time records.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s national heat index, an average of the day and night-time highs measured at 30 weather stations around the country, is expected to hit its highest ever level on Monday or Tuesday, the forecaster said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people are going to suffer, because bodies suffer from an accumulation of high temperatures,\u201d said St\u00e9phanie Rist, France\u2019s health minister, visiting a Paris hospital on Monday. She urged people to check on elderly and vulnerable neighbours.<\/p>\n

In the south-west Gironde region, local officials said the deaths on Sunday of three people, aged between 80 and 95, were in part due to the intense heat. Emergency services said 10 people, including a 13-year-old boy, drowned in swimming accidents.<\/p>\n

France went ahead with its annual street music festival, the F\u00eate de la Musique, on Sunday, although some local authorities called it off altogether and others ran only evening events. Alcohol restrictions were imposed in many areas.<\/p>\n

More than 800 schools were closed nationwide on Monday, while another 1,800 rescheduled classes to allow pupils to leave early. One in 10 regional train services around Paris were cancelled amid fears for rolling stock and tracks.<\/p>\n

A technician repairs an air conditioning unit at a restaurant in the city centre of Ronda, southern Spain, on Sunday. Photograph: Jorge Guerrero\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Spain declared its first official heatwave of the year from Sunday until Wednesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 44C in some areas. A public screening in Madrid of the national football team\u2019s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia was cancelled.<\/p>\n

The state weather service, Aemet, warned on Sunday of \u201cextremely high\u201d day and night temperatures for the season. \u201cTemperatures will start to drop on Thursday, but the heat will remain intense,\u201d the agency added.<\/p>\n

In Germany, organisers suspended the final of the Berlin Open tennis tournament and cleared everyone out of the event location because of severe thunderstorms as temperatures in the German capital topped 30C over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Temperatures in Belgium<\/a> \u2013 already past 30C on Sunday \u2013 would be \u201cthe hottest ever recorded\u201d, said David Dehenauw, the head of forecasting at the IRM weather institute. Some rush-hour trains were cancelled to limit the risk of breakdowns.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the Met Office national weather service has issued an \u201cextreme heat\u201d warning for much of southern England and parts of Wales from Monday until Thursday, predicting temperatures of 38C. The current record for a June day is 35.6 C, set in 1976.<\/p>\n

Scientists have said that as Earth continues to warm, extreme heat events historically confined to high summer will become more frequent, more intense and last longer, as well as happening earlier and later in the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Europe is enduring a ferocious heatwave forecast to break temperature records, with half of France on red…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-505378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}