A scorching heatwave that baked Spain, France and the UK for days is shifting eastward, with forecasters warning of extreme conditions in Germany, the Czech Republic and beyond.
German forecasts say some western and southwestern areas could reach 40C on Thursday, with that risk spreading more widely on Friday. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute has issued extreme weather warnings and expects temperatures to climb toward 40C over the weekend.
In France the government raised its health alert to the highest level to reinforce hospital staffing and protect vulnerable people. Health authorities reported an increase in cardiac arrests, including among younger people, and officials said they were now seeing deaths linked to the heat.
United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said the heatwave bears the clear imprint of climate change and urged faster shifts to renewables, stronger forest protections and greater resilience to climate impacts.
France has broken temperature records for consecutive days. Météo-France reported an average overnight minimum of 22C on Wednesday and highs such as 27.2C in Nantes. Paris emergency services said cardiac arrests had spiked to roughly four times their usual rate in a 24-hour period, and the capital’s mayor warned people not to risk exercising outdoors in the heat.
Tragic individual cases have emerged: a three-year-old was found dead in a car in the Paris region, and earlier two young children died after being left in a vehicle in Carpentras. In Rennes, doctors linked five or six deaths at home to the extreme temperatures after welfare checks found people unresponsive; the city’s intensive care units reported being saturated following record highs of 40.6C and then 41C.
France has moved its Orsan health emergency plan to level three, designed to help the health system cope over a prolonged period and shield the most at-risk people. Teacher unions have threatened strikes over working conditions in overheated schools, saying mitigation requests were not acted on. Three nuclear plants were temporarily taken offline because of heat-related issues.
Thunderstorms are expected in some western areas from Thursday afternoon, with gusts up to 110 km/h along parts of the Atlantic coast. Organisers cancelled the first day of the Garorock festival in Lot-et-Garonne, where temperatures could reach 42C.
Across Europe, impacts are multiplying. Spain saw an exceptional 45.1C in Andújar earlier in the week; its MoMo monitoring system reported 213 temperature-related fatalities between Sunday and Wednesday. Forecasters expect cooler Atlantic air to reduce Spanish highs to the high 30s in some regions.
In Germany, the southwestern town of Bad Bergzabern recorded overnight temperatures that did not fall below 26.2C, matching a national record from 2019. Luxembourg logged its highest June temperature, 38.3C, and extended a red alert for extreme thermal stress.
Events and travel have been disrupted: Hamburg’s half marathon was cancelled, Deutsche Bahn is offering free ticket cancellations for travelers who want to avoid the heat, and Czech Railways advised people to postpone non-essential journeys. MeteoSuisse placed much of northern and southern Switzerland on maximum alert, warning of significant drought conditions.
Further east and north, Vienna could see weekend highs near 40C, and the Netherlands declared a code red in eight provinces with localized chances of 39C. The UK Met Office extended its red extreme temperatures warning for parts of London and southeastern England until Friday evening.
Italy is expected to reach its peak next week, with forecasts of over 40C in northern regions and nighttime temperatures that may not fall below 29C. Florence’s Uffizi museum suspended ticket sales to visitors without prior bookings after internal temperatures hit 32C and air conditioning proved insufficient.
Climate scientists point out that Europe is warming faster than the global average, increasing the frequency and severity of summer heatwaves, stressing water supplies and raising wildfire risk. Authorities across the continent are preparing for further heat-related health and infrastructure challenges as the hot air mass moves east.
