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People swim at Canal Saint-Martin to cool off on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\nOpening summary<\/p>\n
Europe is braced for another day of an unprecedented heatwave that has smashed records in many countries.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 16 cities for Wednesday, including Milan and Rome, and in the UK, temperatures are expected to reach 40C in some areas.<\/p>\n
The extreme weather is being driven by atmospheric and circulation patterns that keep hot air trapped in place for days, causing the mercury to slowly rise, with these factors exacerbated by global heating, experts say.<\/p>\n
People swim at Canal Saint-Martin to cool off on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The UK is braced for record-breaking temperatures, with schools to close and people urged not to travel. Temperatures could hit 40C on Wednesday and Thursday in some parts of England and Wales and a red weather warning for extreme heat is in place covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, France registered its hottest day on record <\/a>as 40 people across the country were confirmed to have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas over the last few days.<\/p>\n More than 90% of the French population is exposed to extreme heat \u2013 government data shows \u2013 with temperatures of 39C to 41C expected on Wednesday from Brittany to the Paris region, and in much of the south-west.<\/p>\n From Wednesday until at least Friday, central and southern Netherlands will be under a code orange for extreme heat. Anyone living in Amsterdam with a city pass may swim for free in six city outdoor pools, while the national rail company will run fewer trains on a number of routes from Wednesday due to the expected heat.<\/p>\n In the coming days, the heatwave is expected to extend into eastern Europe.<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s weather service issued high-level heat warnings for the western part of the country from Thursday to Saturday, forecasting temperatures could break records.<\/p>\n Croatia\u2019s popular Adriatic coast was also put under red alert for Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n Hungary, already under a second-level heat alert, said it was raising that to the maximum level from Saturday to Tuesday as temperatures continued to rise.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Power outages in France<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s record-breaking heatwave left around 68,000 households without electricity in western France<\/a> on Wednesday, authorities said \u2013 the country\u2019s first major power outage of the latest bout of extreme weather.<\/p>\n The outage, which involved a transformer on the electricity grid, was related to extreme temperatures, the prefecture in the coastal department of Finistere said in a statement.<\/p>\n Tuesday was the hottest day ever recorded in France<\/a>, with an average temperature of 29.8C across the country. Similar conditions are expected until the weekend, with highs between 40C-42C and sweltering lows.<\/p>\n Nights look very uncomfortable, too, only dropping to 23C-28C in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n Visitors shield themself from the sun as they walk in the garden of the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris. Photograph: Thibault Camus\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.45 EDT<\/p>\n The extreme heat is expected to cause problems for parents today as schools in the UK shut early or close to protect pupils.<\/p>\n Almost 100 schools in Somerset will be fully closed on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the council. And about 100 schools will be at least partially closed over the next two days in Buckinghamshire, along with 86 schools in Gloucestershire, according to council data.<\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s Richard Adams and Fiona Harvey have written this timely piece about how the UK\u2019s failure to plan for rising temperatures has left UK\u2019s schools sweltering.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.44 EDT<\/p>\n Temperatures could hit 40C today in some parts of England and Wales.<\/p>\n A red weather warning for extreme heat covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham was issued by the Met Office from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n During the peak of the heatwave on these two days, the temperature could come close to the UK\u2019s all-time high of 40.3C, measured in Lincolnshire in July 2022.<\/p>\n The latest heatwave is also expected to surpass the record for June of 35.6C set in Hampshire in 1976.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.30 EDT<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a video showing Wednesday\u2019s forecast for the UK from the Met Office, according to an update before midnight.<\/p>\n Some low cloud is possible to start the day but this will clear quickly to bring wall-to-wall blue skies for many. It is going to be an exceptionally hot day with both amber and red extreme heat warnings in places.<\/p>\n The temperatures in some parts of the UK did not drop below 20C overnight.<\/p>\n Allow content provided by a third party?<\/p>\n This article includes content hosted on platform.x.com. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.34 EDT<\/p>\n Opening summary<\/p>\n Europe is braced for another day of an unprecedented heatwave that has smashed records in many countries.<\/p>\n Italy\u2019s health ministry has declared a red heatwave alert in 16 cities for Wednesday, including Milan and Rome, and in the UK, temperatures are expected to reach 40C in some areas.<\/p>\n The extreme weather is being driven by atmospheric and circulation patterns that keep hot air trapped in place for days, causing the mercury to slowly rise, with these factors exacerbated by global heating, experts say.<\/p>\n People swim at Canal Saint-Martin to cool off on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The UK is braced for record-breaking temperatures, with schools to close and people urged not to travel. Temperatures could hit 40C on Wednesday and Thursday in some parts of England and Wales and a red weather warning for extreme heat is in place covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham.<\/p>\n