France restricts public drinking as Europe swelters under a ‘heat-dome driven furnace’ for the second time in two months

 

A woman on the Trocadero square near the Eiffel Tower as temperatures rise in Paris during a second heatwave affecting a large part of France, on June 20, 2026. Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

Homem mergulha em fonte perto da Torre Eiffel, em Paris, na França, em meio a onda de calor histórica no país europeu, en 22 de junho de 2026. — Foto: Abdul Saboor/ Reuters 

 

Franceses às margens do Canal Saint-Martin, em Paris, onde o banho foi liberado — Foto: REUTERS/Alice Sacco

 

by  Laura Paddison 

 

Europe is sweltering under its second heat dome in two months, with temperatures spiking above 104 degrees Fahrenheit, bringing dangerous conditions across swaths of the planet’s fastest-warming continent. France banned public alcohol consumption, Spain closed a World Cup fan zone and the UK is bracing for an annihilation of its all-time June temperature record.

Heat alerts were posted Monday by 26 countries, from Ireland to Greece, as soaring temperatures deliver one of Western Europe’s worst June heat waves on record.

The punishing temperatures are the result of a heat dome parked over the continent for the second time in two months. Heat domes are persistent high-pressure systems which act like a lid on a pot, trapping hot air and pushing it downward. The heat waves also come as a strengthening El Niño takes shape in the tropical Pacific. This natural climate pattern is known to increase the frequency and severity of heat extremes worldwide.

Scientists say these kinds of heat waves are becoming more severe and more frequent as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and heat the planet. 

 Extreme heat can quickly become dangerous and even deadly, especially on a continent where very few people have air conditioning. Only about 20% of European homes have AC, compared to around 90% in the United States. 

 

In France, the blistering heat has been unrelenting. More than half of its 96 regions were under red heat wave alerts Sunday, the most severe level. Temperatures reached above 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of the country.

The heat was so intense Sunday, the government banned public alcohol drinking at Fête de la musique, an annual music festival which takes place across the country and brings millions onto the streets. The ban applied to regions under red heat wave alerts.

“For ‌all ⁠events organized by the state and its agencies, instructions have been given not to offer alcohol,” the Prime Minister’s office said in a statement. 

 Monday is set to be even hotter, with temperatures rising to more than 107 degrees Fahrenheit in some places. The government has ordered the closure of more than 800 schools, according to a report in the Associated Press.

 

Monday could be France’s hottest day on record for any month, and there is little chance of respite; temperatures are expected to reach “a very high plateau” until at least Thursday, Météo-France said. On Monday, at least four locations in France set all-time high temperature records for any month of the year, while other locations broke June records.

“This heatwave will be quite comparable in severity to the one in August 2003. It is expected to surpass it in terms of maximum intensity,” Météo France said Monday, referring to a deadly 16-day heat wave that killed nearly 15,000 people.

Other parts of Europe are also set to endure unprecedented heat. In the United Kingdom, temperatures are forecast to reach at least 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday, according to the country’s Met Office, which would smash the UK’s all-time heat record for June of 96.08 degrees Fahrenheit, last recorded in 1976. Humidity levels will be high, making the heat even more oppressive.

The Met Office issued a rare “Red Extreme Heat Warning” for Wednesday and Thursday. 

 The country will also endure tropical nights, where temperatures don’t dip below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Nighttime heat is particularly pernicious as it gives people little chance to rest and recover. 

 

Scientists have sounded the alarm on the extent of the UK’s heat wave. It means two consecutive months “in which the UK temperature records have been annihilated by well over 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit),” said Liz Bentley, chief executive at the Royal Meteorological Society.

“This is not just a heatwave, it is a heat-dome driven furnace that will grip most of southern UK and push temperatures into truly exceptional territory,” said Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist at the University of Reading. 

 

Termômetro em Rennes, no oeste da França, em 22 de junho de 2026. — Foto: Jeremias González/ AP

Parts of Spain are sweltering under triple digit temperatures and tropical nights. On the Almería coast in southeastern Spain, nighttime temperatures Sunday into Monday didn’t drop below 86 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the country’s weather service AEMET.

In Madrid, a fan zone set up with big screens for people to watch the World Cup was closed Sunday due to the heat, according to Reuters.

Monday is set to be extremely hot again, AEMET posted on X, adding “the danger is significant in much of the country.” 

A woman seen reading in the Ciutadella Park sheltered from the sun in a comfortable area in Barcelona, Spain, on June 2. SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

 

Heat is often called a silent killer. It lacks the visible destruction of a hurricane, flood or wildfire, yet it’s the deadliest type of extreme weather. Extreme temperatures, especially when combined with high humidity, make sweating and other mechanisms people rely on to cool down become less effective.

Heat and humidity are increasingly reaching levels the human body struggles to cope with. Extreme temperatures have killed more than 200,000 people over the past four years, according to the World Health Organization. 

 Scientists warn these types of extreme heat waves will only become more common as the planet heats up. “Human-driven climate change has provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past,” Deoras said. 

 Andrew Freedman contributed to this report.

Spain wildfires are ‘clear warning’ of climate emergency, minister says. Environment minister says blazes, in which two people have died, are proof of country’s vulnerability to global heating

A firefighter battles a wildfire in the village of Parafita, Galicia region, Spain, on Tuesday. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters

by  Sam Jones in Madrid, Helena Smith in Athens and agencies

 The heatwave-fuelled wildfires that have killed two people in Spain over recent days, devouring thousands of hectares of land and forcing thousands of people from their homes, are a “clear warning” of the impact of the climate emergency, the country’s environment minister has said.

 

Speaking on Wednesday morning, as firefighters in Spain, Greece and other Mediterranean countries continued to battle dozens of blazes, Sara Aagesen said the 14 wildfires still burning across seven Spanish regions were further proof of the country’s particular vulnerability to global heating.

Aagesen said that while some of the fires appeared to have been started deliberately, the deadly blazes were a clear indicator of the climate emergency and of the need for better preparation and prevention.

“The fires are one of the parts of the impact of that climate change, which is why we have to do all we can when it comes to prevention,” she told Cadena Ser radio.

“Our country is especially vulnerable to climate change. We have resources now but, given that the scientific evidence and the general expectation point to it having an ever greater impact, we need to work to reinforce and professionalise those resources.”

Firefighters on the outskirts of Abejera de Tábara, Zamora, Spain. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

Aagesen’s comments came a day after temperatures in parts of southern Spain surged past 45C (113F). The state meteorological office, Aemet, said there were no recorded precedents for the temperatures experienced between 1 August and 20 August.

A 35-year-old volunteer firefighter died on Tuesday in the north-western Spanish region of Castilla y León, where fires have prompted the evacuation of more than 8,000 residents, and where seven people are being treated in hospital for serious burns. Four are in a critical condition.

The firefighter’s death came hours after that of a 50-year-old man who suffered 98% burns while trying to save horses from a burning stable near Madrid on Monday night.

By Wednesday morning, the Madrid fire had been brought under control, but blazes in the far north-western region Galicia had consumed 11,500 hectares (30,000 acres) of land by the end of the day.

“Emergency teams are continuing to fight fires across our country,” the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said in a post on X on Wednesday. “The fire situation remains serious and extreme caution is essential. My thanks, once again, to all of you who are working tirelessly to fight the flames.”

A helicopter flies over the town of Vilar near Chandrexa de Queixa in Galicia, Spain, on Tuesday. Photograph: Brais Lorenzo/EPA

Neighbouring Portugal deployed more than 2,100 firefighters and 20 aircraft against five big blazes, with efforts focused on a fire in the central municipality of Trancoso that has raged since Saturday.

Strong gusts of wind had rekindled flames overnight and threatened nearby villages, where television images showed local people volunteering to help firefighters under a thick cloud of smoke.

In Greece, which requested EU aerial assistance on Tuesday, close to 5,000 firefighters were battling blazes fanned by gale-force winds nationwide. Authorities said emergency workers were waging a “a titanic battle” to douse flames still raging through the western Peloponnese, in Epirus farther north, and on the islands of Zakynthos, Kefalonia and Chios, where thousands of residents and tourists have been evacuated from homes and hotels.

Local media reported the wildfires had decimated houses, farms and factories and forced people to flee. Fifteen firefighters and two volunteers had suffered burns and other injuries including “symptoms of heatstroke”, the fire service said.

A man moves goats during a wildfire in Vounteni, on the outskirts of Patras, Greece, on Wednesday. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

Around midnight a huge blaze erupted on Chios, devouring land that had only begun to recover from devastating wildfires in June. As the flames reached the shores, the coastguard rushed to remove people on boats to safety.

On the other side of Greece, outside the western city of Patras, volunteers with the Hellenic Red Cross struggled to contain infernos barrelling towards villages and towns. By lunchtime on Wednesday, media footage showed flames on the outskirts of Patras, Greece’s third-largest city. Municipal authorities announced a shelter had been set up to provide refuge, food and water for those in need.

Officials evacuated a children’s hospital and a retirement home in the city as a precaution, and local media footage showed the roof of a 17th-century monastery outside the city on fire.

Seventeen settlements around Preveza, where fires broke out Tuesday, were reported to be without electricity or water.

“Today is also expected to be very difficult as in most areas of the country a very high risk of fire is forecast,” a fire service spokesperson, Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, said in a televised address. “By order of the head of the fire brigade, all services nationwide, including civil protection forces, will be in a state of alert.”

Firefighters take a quick rest in Izmir, Turkey, on Wednesday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

At first light, 33 water-dumping planes and helicopters scrambled to extinguish fires, he said.

Temperatures exceeding 35C (95F) are predicted, according to some meteorologists, to rise further later this week, the height of the summer for Greeks. Record heat and prolonged drought have already turned much of the country tinder-dry, producing conditions ripe for forest fires.

A forestry worker was killed on Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The forestry ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire truck that left four others injured.

Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.

In southern Albania a wildfire caused explosions after detonating buried second world war-era artillery shells. Officials said on Wednesday an 80-year-old man had died in one blaze south of the capital, Tirana.

The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

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 Sam Jones in Madrid and Helena Smith 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

Melting glaciers force Switzerland and Italy to redraw part of Alpine border. Two countries agree to modifications beneath Matterhorn peak, one of Europe’s highest summits

The Matterhorn straddles Switzerland’s Zermatt region and Italy’s Aosta valley. Photograph: Ascent/PKS Media Inc/Getty Images

 

Switzerland and Italy have redrawn a border that traverses an Alpine peak as melting glaciers shift the historically defined frontier.

The two countries agreed to the modifications beneath the Matterhorn, one of the highest mountains in Europe, which straddles Switzerland’s Zermatt region and Italy’s Aosta valley.

Glaciers in Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, are retreating at an accelerated pace because of human-caused climate breakdown.

“Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or ridge lines of glaciers, firn or perpetual snow,” the Swiss government said in a statement cited by Bloomberg. “These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers.”

 The famed Zermatt ski resort is affected by the change, with the two countries agreeing to modify the border around the landmarks of Testa Grigia, Plateau Rosa, Rifugio Carrel and Gobba di Rollin based on their economic interests, Bloomberg reported.

A joint Italian-Swiss commission agreed to the changes in May 2023. Switzerland officially approved the treaty on Friday, but Italy still needs to sign.

The changes come after a disagreement between the two countries over the peak’s territory that lasted for years.

Swiss glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, the second-biggest annual decline on record, according to the Swiss Academy of Sciences. The largest decline was 6% in 2022.

Experts have stopped measuring the ice on some Swiss glaciers because there is none left.

The remains of a German mountain climber who disappeared while crossing a glacier near the Matterhorn nearly 40 years ago were discovered in melting ice in July last year.

 

Experts in Italy said this month that the Marmolada glacier, which is the largest and most symbolic of the Dolomites, could melt completely by 2040 as a result of rising average temperatures.

The collapse of part of the Marmolada killed 11 people in 2022.

The glacier has been measured every year since 1902 and is considered a “natural thermometer” of climate change.