More records fall as Europe heat wave drags on

PARIS

People jump in the Trocadero Fountain near the Eiffel Tower during a heatwave in Paris on June 22, 2026. (AFP)

Millions of people across Europe woke up drenched in sweat on June 23 after another night of scorching heat, with most of the population exposed to extreme and exceptional temperatures.

The latest heatwave has raised fears of the effects of climate change-supercharged extreme weather on vulnerable people, while forcing the cancelation of outdoor events, causing transport chaos and shuttering schools.

It comes just a month after a previous stretch of unseasonably high temperatures scorched western Europe, with scientists warning that the increasingly frequent, lengthy and intense periods of extreme heat are a clear marker of human-driven global warming.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu held a crisis meeting on June 23 after forecaster Meteo France reported that the country’s average temperature had broken a record for the month of June.

Average daytime and nighttime temperatures reached 29.2C on June 22, beating the previous high reached on June 30, 2025, according to provisional data, while the central village of Chateaumeillant recorded a sweltering 43.3 degrees Celsius.

French authorities blamed the extreme weather for the deaths of two children, aged 2 and 4, found on June 22 in their family car in a residential parking lot in the southern town of Carpentras.

The day before, three elderly people died in their residence in Gironde in the southwest as a result of the high temperatures.

Weeks after the U.K. broke its May temperature record, the British weather forecaster issued a top-level weather warning for only the second time in its history, covering parts of England for today and tomorrow.

“It is now likely the current highest temperature on record for June will be broken, this being 35.6 degrees recorded in Southampton in June 1976 and Camden Square in June 1957,” the Met Office said.

The temperatures are expected rise to as high as 40 degrees in some places today and tomorrow.

The warning runs from 9 a.m. today to 9 p.m. tomorrow and covers a large area of central and southern England, including London and Birmingham, the U.K.’s two largest cities.

Schools in southwest England said they were planning to finish the day early and a train company said it was canceling or changing some of its services out of London because of the “severe weather.”

Italy’s Health Ministry declared a red heat wave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome for on June 23 and said the number would go up to 16 today.
In Spain’s capital, Madrid, where temperatures peaked at 40 degrees on June 22, city hall set up a “climate refuge” for homeless and vulnerable people, open between midday and 8 p.m., which provides water, food and hygiene facilities.