Météo-France has warned that temperatures will approach 40 Celsius across southeastern France beginning Tuesday, while the UK Health Security Agency issued an amber heat health alert for most of England as the region braces for its fifth heat wave since May.
The alerts come as Europe endures a sustained period of extreme heat that has shattered temperature records, fuelled massive wildfires and contributed to thousands of excess deaths across the continent.
Records tumble across the continent
France recorded its first-ever May heat wave alerts this year, with more than half the country setting new monthly highs. June 23 became the hottest day in French history when the mercury hit 44.3 Celsius in the southwest. The national public health agency Santé publique France reported at least 5,700 more deaths than usual during June alone.
Two subsequent heat waves in July intensified a historic wildfire in southwestern France that forced 220,000 people to evacuate, one of the largest such operations in Europe since the Second World War.
In the United Kingdom, half of England and all of Wales have been plunged into drought. Provisional data show England and Wales experienced their driest July since records began in 1836, with 19 English counties receiving no rain for the entire month. Two earlier heat waves in May and June were linked to more than 2,800 excess deaths.
Global temperatures on track for new high
According to the European climate agency Copernicus, last month saw the highest average sea surface temperature ever recorded for July across the extrapolar oceans at 20.96 Celsius, surpassing the 2023 record of 20.89 Celsius. The June-July average temperature for Western Europe reached 21.62 Celsius, toppling the 2022 mark.
Globally, 2026 is currently the third-hottest year on record behind 2024 and 2025. Scientists say the combination of accelerated human-caused warming and a strong El Niño event in the Pacific means 2026 could yet surpass both to become the hottest year ever recorded.
"Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. "As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another."
The current amber alert in England warns of significant impacts on health services, including a likely rise in deaths among older and vulnerable people. An 18-year-old died after getting into difficulty in the sea at Camber Sands in southern England on Sunday, the latest in dozens of open-water fatalities recorded in recent months.
Based on reporting by Global News.