Showing posts with label AAA EUROPE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AAA EUROPE. Show all posts

Monday, September 1, 2025

Summer 2025 was hottest on record in UK, says Met Office. Unprecedented average temperature made about 70 times more likely by human-induced climate change, says agency

The water levels at Broomhead reservoir in South Yorkshire have been low this summer. Photograph: Richard McCarthy/PA

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The UK has had its hottest summer on record, the Met Office has said, after the country faced four heatwaves in a single season.

The mean temperature for meteorological summer, which encompasses the months of June, July and August, was 16.1C (60.98F), which is significantly above the current record of 15.76C set in 2018.

All five of the hottest summers on record have now occurred since 2000 – a clear signal of the global heating that scientists say is resulting from increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The Met Office said it had conducted a rapid analysis that found the record-breaking summer temperatures had been made about 70 times more likely because of human-induced climate change.

 Dr Mark McCarthy, the agency’s head of climate attribution, said: “In a natural climate, we could expect to see a summer like 2025 with an approximate return period of around 340 years, while in the current climate we could expect to see these sorts of summers roughly one in every five years.


“Our analysis suggests that while 2025 has set a new record, we could plausibly experience much hotter summers in our current and near-future climate and shows how what would have been seen as extremes in the past are becoming more common in our changing climate.”

The latest record beats the last by a wide margin. This year’s average temperature was just over a third of a degree hotter than 2018’s previous record, while temperatures for the other four of the five hottest summers on record differed by just hundredths of a degree. Overall the mean temperature was 1.51C above the long-term meteorological average.

June and July had hot weather, with four heatwaves including days above 30C. There has been very little rain across much of the country, with England experiencing what the government has called “nationally significant” water shortfalls. Much of England is under a hosepipe ban as reservoirs, rivers and groundwater run dry.

Although the summer has been consistently warm, there has not been extreme heat. The highest temperature recorded to date for 2025 was 35.8C in Faversham, Kent, on 1 July, well short of the UK’s all-time high of 40.3C, set in July 2022.

But in June alone there were two heatwaves, making it the hottest June on record for England and the second hottest for the UK overall. A third heatwave in July and a fourth in August pushed the overall average temperature for the summer into record-breaking territory.

 

Towards the end of June, scientists calculated that the heat endured by people in the south-east of England had been made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis.

Meteorologists have said this year’s consistent warmth was driven by dry ground from spring, high-pressure systems, and unusually warm seas around the UK, and minimum temperatures had been exceptionally above average.

The Met Office scientist Dr Emily Carlisle said: “These conditions have created an environment where heat builds quickly and lingers, with both maximum and minimum temperatures considerably above average,.”

Monday, August 18, 2025

Wildfires rage in Spain and Portugal amid searing heat

 

Firefighting efforts continue in Ourense, Spain. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

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Extreme temperatures exacerbated by carbon pollution fuel fires in southern Europe as green policies are rolled back 

 

Relentless heat and raging wildfires continue to ravage southern Europe, with one-quarter of weather stations in Spain recording 40C temperatures, as the prime minister urged people to “leave the climate emergency outside of partisan struggles”.

The Spanish weather agency Aemet recorded a high of 45.8C in Cádiz on Sunday, while one in eight weather stations nationwide hit peaks of at least 42C (108F) . The agency warned of “very high or extreme fire danger” in most of the country in a post on social media on Monday.

“Although the heatwave is starting to subside, very high temperatures will still be reached today in the east and south of the peninsula,” it said. “Be cautious.”

A pyrocumulus cloud swells over Vilarmel village during a fire in the Galicia region of Spain. Photograph: Mikel Konate/Reuters

Deadly fires have burned 348,000 hectares in Spain this year, according to preliminary data published by Copernicus on Monday, charring even more land than when the previous record was set in 2022.

A fourth person was killed by the fires in Spain when a firefighting truck overturned on a steep forest road, while in neighbouring Portugal, which has also had extreme heat, another firefighter died, bringing the national death toll to two. Civil protection authorities said 31,130 people have been evacuated from their homes in the last week.

The Spanish government said on Sunday that an extra 500 soldiers would join the 1,400 troops trying to bring deadly wildfires under control. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced a “state pact” to tackle the climate emergency as he visited Ourense and León, one of the regions engulfed by flames.

 

“We need a strategy that anticipates a better, more secure and more equitable response for our fellow citizens in the face of the worsening and accelerating effects of the climate emergency in our country,” Sánchez said. “And that requires a great state pact that leaves the climate emergency outside of partisan struggles and ideological issues, where we focus on scientific evidence and act accordingly.”

Sánchez’s proposed pact received a dismissive response from the opposition conservative People’s party (PP), which has called for more troop deployments and accused the prime minister of absenting himself from the crisis.


 

“State pacts don’t put out the flames, nor do they restore what’s been lost,” said Ester Muñoz, a PP spokesperson. “People were expecting a lot more than a smokescreen designed to save his reputation after he’d gone missing for a week.”

Extreme heat, made hotter by carbon pollution, has fuelled devastating wildfires across southern Europe this month, the latest in a series of disasters exacerbated by climate breakdown amid a continental rollback of green policies.

Data from last week shows the blazes have burned at least 530,000 hectares this year, more than double the average over the past two decades, forcing several overwhelmed governments from Spain to Bulgaria to seek firefighting help from the EU. Portugal activated the EU’s civil protection mechanism on Friday with a request for four Canadair water-bombing planes.


 The prolonged heatwave has broken temperature records across the continent. It is expected to die down in Spain after Monday and subsided in some countries over the weekend.

 

Météo France, the French national weather agency, said temperatures had fallen on Sunday but the wildfire risk remained high or very high in several southern regions.

“The Mediterranean and south-western departments of the country are experiencing significant drought, which means that vegetation is highly sensitive to fire,” the agency said on Monday. It added that the rise in daytime temperatures had been limited by smoke from the Spanish and Portuguese wildfires, as well as plumes of Saharan sand.

In Portugal, which has been under a state of alert since the start of the month, large rural fires have killed two people and caused several injuries.

The head of a dead fish lies in the almost-dry Aume riverbed in Saint-Fraigne, France. Photograph: Yohan Bonnet/AP

The minister for internal affairs, Maria Lúcia Amaral, extended the wildfire alert on Sunday until Tuesday night but left a press conference when journalists tried to ask questions, Portuguese media reported. André Ventura, the head of the far-right Chega party, called for her resignation. “We are reaching the limit of what is acceptable,” he said on Sunday.

In a radio interview on Monday morning, Spain’s defence minister, Margarita Robles, said the fires were unlikely to be brought under control until the heatwave ended later on Monday. “We’re not going to be able to end this situation until the heatwave dies down,” Robles told Cadena Ser. “We’re seeing fires with different characteristics because of climate change.”

A woman flees as a forest fire gathers pace in Pampilhosa da Serra, Portugal. Photograph: Paulo Cunha/EPA
 

 She said the Military Emergencies Unit (UME), founded to help deal with disasters, had never faced such challenging conditions. “We’re seeing a fire situation that’s never been seen before. The UME hasn’t seen anything like this since it was established 20 years ago.”

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Thousands evacuated in Spain as deadly heatwave fans Mediterranean wildfires. Boy, four, dies of heatstroke in Rome as scientists say high temperatures and fires are reminder of climate emergency


 by  in Madrid and in Athens

 




The deadly heatwave fanning wildfires across the Mediterranean region has claimed at least three lives and forced thousands of people from their homes.

Firefighters continued to battle blazes on Tuesday and authorities braced for further damage as temperatures in some areas surged well past 40C. In Spain, a Romanian man in his 50s died after suffering 98% burns while trying to rescue horses from a burning stable near Madrid on Monday night.

A four-year-old boy who was found unconscious in his family’s car in Sardinia died in Rome on Monday after suffering irreversible brain damage caused by heatstroke. And in Montenegro, one soldier died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires in the hills north of the capital, Podgorica, on Tuesday.

Scientist have warned that the heat currently affecting large parts of Europe is creating perfect conditions for wildfires and serving as another reminder of the climate emergency.

 

“Thanks to climate change, we now live in a significantly warmer world,” Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the University of Reading’s meteorology department told Agence France-Presse, adding that “many still underestimate the danger”.

The fire in Tres Cantos, near Madrid – which had been fuelled by winds of 70km/h (45mph) and which has devoured 1,000 hectares of land – was still not under control on Tuesday evening, when further strong gusts were expected. The regional government said it had recovered 150 dead sheep and 18 dead horses from the area.

More than 3,700 people were evacuated from 16 municipalities amid dozens of reported blazes in the north-western region of Castilla y León, including one that damaged the Unesco world heritage-listed Roman-era mining site at Les Médulas.

Authorities in neighbouring Galicia said the largest wildfire of the year had burned through 3,000 hectares of land in Ourense province. In the southern town of Tarifa, firefighters on the ground and in planes battled a fire that broke out on Monday, with 2,000 people evacuated.

The blazes have led the interior ministry to declare a “pre-emergency phase” to help coordinate emergency resources.

Firefighters work to extinguish a forest fire in Lamas de Olo, in the Alvao natural park, Portugal. Photograph: Pedro Sarmento Costa/EPA

The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, offered his condolences to the family of the man who died after the Tres Cantos fire, and thanked the emergency services for their “tireless efforts”.

He urged people to recognise the seriousness of the situation. “We’re at extreme risk of forest fires,” he said in a message on X on Tuesday. “Let’s be very careful.”

In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters were battling three large wildfires in the centre and north of the country.

Authorities in Greece requested EU help as fires, fuelled by gale force winds, ripped across vast swathes of the western Peloponnese and emergency services ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Firefighters were also trying to contain blazes on the popular Ionian tourist islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia. With gusts hampering firefighting efforts, emergency services ordered all hotels in the region of Agala and Keri on Zakynthos to temporarily close, forcing suitcase-wielding holidaymakers to flee and relocate to other areas.

A house burning during a wildfire that erupted in a forest near the village of Agalas on Zakynthos. Photograph: Costas Synetos/EPA

 

By late Tuesday, dozens of firefighters, supported by 15 fire trucks and eight water-bombing planes and helicopters, were still trying to douse the fast-moving flames.

“Everything that civil protection can offer is here but there are very strong winds and the fires are out of control,” said the island’s mayor, Giorgos Stasinopoulos. “We need a lot more air support, it’s vital.”

The fire service said it was also dealing with blazes farther north in Epirus, around Preveza and in the central region of Aetolia-Acarnania.

Despite temperatures nudging 43C in some parts of the Peloponnese region of southern Greece on Tuesday – and the prolonged drought, which has produced highly flammable conditions on tinder-dry soil – officials described the outbreak of so many fires as “suspiciously high”.

Faced with an estimated 63 blazes erupting and firefighters confronting flames on 106 fronts, fire officers dispatched specialist teams to several of the stricken regions to investigate possible arson.

In Albania, hundreds of firefighters and troops had subdued most of the nearly 40 fires that flared up in the past 24 hours, the defence ministry said, but more than a dozen were still active.

Since the start of July, nearly 34,000 hectares have been scorched nationwide, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Police say many of the blazes were deliberate, with more than 20 people arrested.

The aftermath of the blaze in Çanakkale, Turkey, on Tuesday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

In Croatia, about 150 firefighters spent Monday night defending homes near the port city of Split.

In the north-western Turkish province of Çanakkale, more than 2,000 people were evacuated and 77 people treated in hospital for smoke inhalation after fires broke out near the tourist village of Güzelyalı, authorities said.

Images on Turkish media showed homes and cars ablaze, while more than 760 firefighters, 10 planes, nine helicopters and more than 200 vehicles were deployed to battle the flames. Turkey this year experienced its hottest July since records began 55 years ago.

In southern France, where temperature records were broken in at least four weather stations, the government called for vigilance.

The south-western city of Bordeaux hit a record 41.6C on Monday, while all-time records were broken at meteorological stations in Bergerac, Cognac and Saint Girons, according to the national weather service, Météo France.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Wildfires close Mount Vesuvius trails while fierce blazes continue in France. French officials says heatwave in southern Europe complicates efforts to contain biggest wildfire since 1949

 

Tackling the Vesuvius wildfire

by  in Rome

 

Tourist trails have been closed on Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy as firefighters tackle a huge blaze on the volcano’s slopes, while officials warned of another “challenging day” for those working to contain France’s biggest wildfire since 1949.

The wildfire on Mount Vesuvius, close to Naples, broke out a few days ago and by Saturday afternoon had stretched to about 3km (1.9 miles) wide, destroying hundreds of hectares of woodland and killing wild animals. Thick smoke could be seen from Pompeii and Naples.

Six Canadair firefighting planes have been dispatched from the state fleet and teams made up of firefighters, soldiers, forestry corps, police and civil protection volunteers from across Italy are working on the ground.

Flames and smoke rise from a wildfire at the Vesuvius national park in Terzigno on Saturday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Drones were being used to monitor the spread of the fire, the national fire service said. The operation has been complicated by the latest heatwave.

Vesuvius national park authorities said the volcano’s trail network had been closed for safety reasons and to facilitate firefighting and clean-up operations in the areas affected. Pompeii’s archaeological park remains open to the public.

The fire has mainly affected the Terzigno pine forest as well as woodlands close to the small towns of Trecase, Ercolano and Ottaviano at the foot of the volcano.

Francesco Ranieri, the mayor of Terzigno, told Italian media the situation on Saturday night was “very critical” although the efforts of firefighters ensured the flames did not reach any homes.

The cause of the fire has not been identified although there are strong suspicions that it was arson, with Ranieri suggesting there may be “a criminal hand” behind it.

The fires have charred and destroyed the landscape in Jonquières, France. Photograph: Getty Images

Firefighters in France’s southern Aude region, meanwhile, have managed to contain a massive wildfire, which killed one person and injured several others, although authorities warned that work on Sunday would be complicated by intense heat and a hot, dry wind.

“It’s a challenging day, given that we are likely to be on red alert for heatwave from 6pm, which will not make things any easier,” said Christian Pouget, the prefect of the Aude department.

Europe is far from alone in suffering frequent wildfires. The weather conditions in which they flourish, marked by heat, drought and strong winds, is increasing in some parts of all continents.

A vintage Citreon car burnt by a wildfire in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, France. Photograph: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

Human-caused climate breakdown is responsible for a higher likelihood of fire and bigger burned areas in southern Europe, northern Eurasia, the US and Australia, with some scientific evidence of increases in southern China.

Climate breakdown has increased the wildfire season by about two weeks on average across the globe.

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

‘Unprecedented’ wildfire burns area size of Paris in southern France. Advancing blaze scorches 16,000 hectares near Spanish border, destroying homes and forcing people to flee

 


Monday, July 28, 2025

Thousands in Greece and Turkey evacuate as winds and heat fan wildfires. Czech firefighters and Italian aircraft join rescue effort in Greece, and firefighter among those killed in Turkey

 

Near Bursa, Turkey’s fourth-largest city, more than 1,700 people were forced to evacuate their homes as a wildfire approached. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

 

by   in Athens

 

Thousands of people in Greece and Turkey have been forced to evacuate homes as firefighters in the countries battled to contain wildfires fanned by strong winds and searing heat.

As temperatures in south-eastern Europe exceeded 40C for a seventh straight day, the Greek prime minister praised rescue workers for waging “a titanic battle” to bring blazes under control.

“The state mechanism has been called to engage in a titanic battle, simultaneously responding to dozens of wildfires across the country,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement. “To those who saw their properties destroyed by the fury of fire, know that the state will stand by your side.”

Eleven regions of Greece face a “very high risk” of fire, and the government has appealed for help from EU partners to help it deal with fires burning on multiple fronts.

Emergency services said that while a conflagration that had injured two firefighters in Kryoneri, north-east of Athens, had been successfully quelled, fires around Messinia in the south-west Peloponnese and on the popular island of Kythera had not been contained.

 

Helicopter crews try to control hotspots in Kryoneri. Photograph: Yannis Kolesidis/EPA

 The authorities were also battling flare-ups on the islands of Evia and Crete. In all of the stricken areas residents received messages to evacuate.

 

Several regions were placed under a red category 5 alert, the highest on the national scale, because of conditions exacerbated by the extreme weather that had turned terrain to tinder.

The National Observatory in Athens recorded a temperature of 45.8C (114.5F) in Messinia on Friday. On Saturday, the temperature reached 45.2C (113.4F) in Amfilochia, western Greece.

By late Sunday, as Czech firefighters and Italian water-bombers joined emergency teams in Greece, the focus turned to Kythera.

Describing the destruction as “incalculable”, the public broadcaster ERT reported: “The first images are resonant of a biblical disaster as huge areas have been reduced to cinders and ash.”

The island’s deputy mayor, Giorgos Komninos, was cited as saying: “Everything, from houses, beehives [to] olive trees has been burnt.”

Two teams of forest commandos, 67 firefighters and scores of volunteers backed by 22 fire brigade trucks, three helicopters and two planes were struggling to douse flames that had ripped through prime agricultural and forest land on the island fuelled by gale-force winds.

As flames approached, villagers were ordered to evacuate to safer areas, with 139 people, including tourists who were trapped on a beach, being rescued by the coast guard.

The aftermath of a fire on Evia island on Sunday. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

The meteorologist Panagiotis Yiannopoulos told ERT: “We are expecting the winds to get stronger right over Kythera and Crete, winds of six-beaufort strength from this evening until Tuesday evening, so a lot of very strong wind over many hours.”

In Turkey, where a record temperature of 50.5 C was registered in the province of Şirnak, in the south-east – surpassing a previous heat record of 49.5C in August 2023 – more than 1,700 people were forced to flee their homes after wildfires barrelled towards Bursa, the country’s fourth-largest city. Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian, described the scene as “an apocalypse”.

More than 1,100 firefighters were battling the flames, with authorities saying that at least 76 blazes had broken out within a 24-hour period. Turkey has been hit by numerous heat-induced infernos for weeks.

On Sunday, Bursa’s mayor said a firefighter had died of a heart attack on the job, bringing the death toll to 14. Ten of the victims were rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed on Wednesday in a fire in the west of the country.

Dozens of fires were also reported in Albania over the weekend, where thousands were forced to evacuate homes in the southern town of Delvina.


 

 

Monday, July 14, 2025

‘Profound concern’ as scientists say extreme heat ‘now the norm’ in UK. Increasing frequency of heatwaves and flooding raises fears over health, infrastructure and how society functions

 

Weather records clearly show the UK’s climate is different now compared with just a few decades ago. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock




Environment editor
 
 

Record-breaking extreme weather is the new norm in the UK, scientists have said, showing that the country is firmly in the grip of the climate crisis.

The hottest days people endure have dramatically increased in frequency and severity, and periods of intense rain have also ramped up, data from hundreds of weather stations shows. Heatwaves and floods leading to deaths and costly damage are of “profound concern” for health, infrastructure and the functioning of society, the scientists said.

The weather records clearly show the UK’s climate is different now compared with just a few decades ago, the scientists said, as a result of the carbon pollution emitted by burning fossil fuels.

The analysis found that the number of days with temperatures 5C above the average for 1961-1990 had doubled in the last 10 years. For days 8C above average, the number has trebled and for 10C above average it has quadrupled. The UK has also become 8% sunnier in the last decade.


The assessment also reported that rain had become more intense. The number of months where counties receive at least double the average rainfall has risen by 50% in the last 20 years. Much of the additional rain is falling in the months from October to March. That period in 2023-24 was the wettest ever, in records that span back to 1767, and resulted in flooding in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands and elsewhere.

The sea level around the UK is rising faster than the global average, the report said, which worsens the impact of coastal flooding.

Six hundred people are believed to have died due to the heatwave that hit England and Wales at the end of June. The soaring temperatures were made 100 times more likely by global heating, the scientists calculated. Two more heatwaves have followed in quick succession.

The government’s preparations to protect people from the escalating impacts of the climate crisis were condemned as “inadequate, piecemeal and disjointed” by official advisers in April.

Mike Kendon at the Met Office, who led the analysis, said: “Breaking records frequently and seeing these extremes, this is now the norm. We might not notice the change from one year to the next, but if we look back 10 years, or 30 years, we can see some really big changes. We’re moving outside the envelope of what we’ve known in the past.”

“The extremes have the greatest impact for our society, if we think about our infrastructure, our public health, and how we function,” he said. “So this is really of profound concern.”

The assessment, called the State of the UK Climate 2024 and published in the International Journal of Climatology, found the last three years were in the UK’s top five hottest years on record. The warmest spring on record was seen in 2024 although this has already been surpassed in 2025.

The UK has particularly long meteorological records and the Central England Temperature series is the longest instrumental record in the world. It shows that recent temperatures have far exceeded any in at least 300 years. However, today’s high temperatures are likely to be average by 2050, and cool by 2100, the scientists said.

Sea level around the UK has already risen by 19cm over the last century, as glaciers and ice sheets melt and the oceans absorb heat and expand. The rise is accelerating and is higher around the UK than globally, although scientists are yet to work out why. It could rise by up to 200cm by the end of the century, said Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva, at the National Oceanography Centre.

Storm winds can push seawater surges on to coasts and are most dangerous when they coincide with the highest tides. “The extra sea level rise [due to global heating] is leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme sea levels and an intensification of coastal hazards,” said Jevrejeva. “It is only a matter of time until the UK is next in the path of a major storm surge event.”

While heat records are increasingly being broken, cold weather events are becoming less common. For example, days with air frosts have fallen by 14 per year in the last decade, compared with the 1931-1990 average.

The UK’s changed climate has also affected nature, the report said. The earliest ever frogspawn and blackbird nesting was seen in 2024, in records that began in 1999. All but one of the 13 natural events monitored were earlier than average in 2024, from the first lesser celandine flower to the first elder leaves. The changes mean species that depend on others, such as for food or pollination, risk getting out of sync, said Dr Judith Garforth at the Woodland Trust.

Prof Liz Bentley, at the Royal Meteorological Society, said the report showed the urgent need to make the UK resilient to climate-fuelled extreme weather: “This report is not just a record of change, but a call to action.”

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Extreme heat is a killer. A recent heat wave shows how much more deadly it’s becoming

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Italy limits outdoor work as heatwave breaks records across Europe. Portugal and Spain suffer historic temperature highs for June, as French schools close because of heat

 

A man takes a break in the heat as he works at a road construction site in Milan. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP

 

Outdoor working has been banned during the hottest parts of the day in more than half of Italy’s regions as an extreme heatwave that has smashed June temperature records in Spain and Portugal continues to grip large swathes of Europe.

The savage temperatures are believed to have claimed at least three lives, including that of a small boy who is thought to have died from heatstroke while in a car in Catalonia’s Tarragona province on Tuesday afternoon.

In Palermo, Sicily, a 53-year-old woman died on Monday after fainting while walking along a street. She had reportedly suffered from a heart condition.

A 70-year-old man was reported to have drowned at a tourist resort close to Turin as intense heat gave way to storms and flash floods.

Admissions to hospital emergency units in parts of Italy have risen by 15-20% in recent days. The majority of patients are elderly people suffering from dehydration.

The heatwave, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from their homes in Turkey due to wildfires, has also forced the closure of schools in parts of France – as education unions warned the classrooms were dangerously hot for children and teachers.

The top of the Eiffel Tower was closed to tourists amid the high temperatures in Paris. Photograph: Tom Nicholson/Reuters

 Tourists, meanwhile, were confronted with closures of some of Europe’s popular attractions. The top of the Eiffel Tower was shut as temperatures in Paris were poised to hit 38C (100.4F). In Brussels, the Atomium monument, famed for its giant stainless steel balls, closed early as temperatures inched towards 37C.


Paris is on red alert for high temperatures, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut, polluting traffic banned and speed restrictions in place as a searing heatwave grips Europe. Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images

 

In Italy, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, two industrial hubs, announced they were stopping open-air work between 12.30pm and 4pm, joining 11 other regions – stretching from Liguria in the north-west to Calabria and Sicily in the south – that have imposed similar bans in recent days.

Local authorities were heeding advice from trade unions after the death of Brahim Ait El Hajjam, a 47-year-old construction worker, who collapsed and died while working on a building site close to Bologna, the capital of Emilia-Romagna, on Monday.

 

Two workers fell ill on Tuesday on a construction site near Vicenza in Veneto. One is reportedly in a coma.

The CGIL Bologna and Fillea CGIL unions said in a statement: “While we wait to learn the actual cause of death, it is essential, during this terrible period, to promote a culture of safety.

“The climate emergency has clearly worsened the conditions for those who work outside every day and companies must give absolute priority to the protection of workers.”

The French national rail operator SNCF said train travel between France and Italy had been suspended for “at least several days” after violent storms on Monday, AFP reported.Cogne, a town in Italy’s Aosta Valley that suffered severe flooding in June last year, has been cut off by a landslide.

The Spanish state meteorological agency, Aemet, said in a social media update that “June 2025 smashed records” when it came to high temperature, with an average temperature of 23.6C, 0.8C above the previous hottest June in 2017.

The monthly average was also 3.5C higher than the average over the period from 1991 to 2020, it said.

A man drinks from a fountain during hot weather in Naples. Photograph: Ansa/Ciro Fusco/EPA

The agency’s comments come just days after Spain’s highest ever June temperature of 46C was recorded in the Huelva province of Andalucía.

In Portugal, temperatures hit 46.6C in Mora, a town in the Évora district, in recent days, making it the highest June temperature ever recorded in the country, according to the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere.

In France, the prime minister, François Bayrou, tried to calm anger at the heatwave crisis in French schools. More than 1,896 schools across the country were fully or partially closed on Tuesday.

In Paris, which was on maximum heatwave alert, parents were advised to keep their children at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some other towns, including Troyes and Melun, closed all their schools.

Bayrou said the education ministry would open talks with mayors on how to adapt school buildings, most of which are extremely poorly insulated.

As temperatures rose on Tuesday, some Paris teachers had nothing more than a water spray on their desk to repeatedly spritz children in classrooms in the hope of keeping cool.

Several Spanish regions, including Barcelona, were on alert for exceptionally high temperatures as the first heatwave of the summer hit the country. Photograph: Alejandro García/EPA

  

Bayrou, who is facing a vote of no confidence on Tuesday, which he is expected to survive, has cancelled his meetings to monitor the situation in real time.

The hot weather front known in Germany as Bettina is expected to have nearly the entire country in its grip by Wednesday, with temperatures shooting toward the 40C mark and only the coasts and Alpine peaks spared the scorching temperatures.

Industry groups warned that schools, elderly care homes and hospitals were ill-prepared for the heatwave – an urgent issue they said must be addressed as the frequency of life-threatening weather increases.

Other cities across Europe are also experiencing higher than usual temperatures, including Zaragoza (39C), Rome (37C), Madrid (37C), Athens (37C), Brussels (36C), Frankfurt (36C), Tirana (35C) and London (33C).

Turkey’s forestry minister, İbrahim Yumaklı, said firefighters had been called out to 263 wildfires across the country in recent days. Firefighters have also been tackling wildfires in parts of France and Italy, especially on the islands of Sardinia and Sicily.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Spain records temperature of 46C as Europe heatwave continues

 

by 

Danai Nesta Kupemba
BBC News
 

 

A heatwave continues to grip large parts of Europe, with authorities in many countries issuing health warnings amid searing temperatures.

Southern Spain is the worst-affected region, with temperatures in the mid-40s Celsius recorded in Seville and neighbouring areas.

A new heat record for June of 46C was set on Saturday in the town of El Granado, according to Spain's national weather service, which also said this month is on track to be the hottest June on record.

Red heat warnings are in force in parts of Portugal, Italy and Croatia, with numerous amber warnings covering areas of Spain, France, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland. 

 

In Barcelona, a woman died after completing a shift as a road sweeper on Saturday, when temperatures were very high. Local authorities are investigating her death.

In Italy, emergency departments across the country have reported an uptick in heatstroke cases, mainly affecting "elderly people, cancer patients, or homeless people", Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine told the AFP news agency.

Hospitals such as the Ospedale dei Colli in Naples have set up dedicated heatstroke pathways to speed up access to vital treatments such as cold water immersion.

The city of Bologna further to the north has set up seven climate shelters with air conditioning and drinking water, while Rome has offered free access to city swimming pools for those over 70.



Tourists cool off under a cloud of mist in Valencia, Spain on Sunday

A pharmacist in Portugal's capital Lisbon told Reuters news agency that, despite telling people "not to go out" during the hottest hours of the day, "we have already had some cases of heat strokes and burns".

The severe heat has also affected countries across the western Balkans where temperatures have reached in excess of 40C.

Serbia registered its highest-ever temperature since it began recording them in the 19th century. In Slovenia, the hottest-ever June temperature was recorded on Saturday.

North Macedonia is also sweltering as temperatures reached 42C on Friday. 

 

More hot weather to come

Some areas will continue to get hotter until the middle of the week, with temperatures rising across France, Germany, Italy and the UK over the next few days.

Yellow and amber alerts are in place for parts of England this weekend, and temperatures in London may reach 35C on Monday.

The heat has been building under a big area of high pressure, with dry air descending and warming.

As that process has continued over a number of days, temperatures have climbed. The area of high pressure will move eastwards over the next few days – taking the high temperatures northwards and eastwards with it.

While it is hard to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, heatwaves are becoming more common and more intense due to climate change.

Scientists at World Weather Attribution, who analyse the influence of climate change on extreme weather events, say June heatwaves with three consecutive days above 28C are about 10 times more likely to occur now compared to pre-industrial times.

Additional reporting by BBC Weather, Guy DeLauney and Guy Hedgecoe

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The water levels at Broomhead reservoir in South Yorkshire have been low this summer. Photograph: Richard McCarthy/PA by   Damien Gayle The...