Europe braced for a punishing heatwave to tighten its grip today, with forecasters warning the blistering conditions will worsen in the days ahead and governments rolling out emergency measures to limit disruption and protect public health.
In southeastern France, two children aged two and four were found dead in their family’s car today as temperatures surged across wide swathes of the country, the local prosecutor said.
“The causes of death are yet to be determined, but the heatwave is the leading line of inquiry,” said Hélène Mourges, the prosecutor in the town of Carpentras, where temperatures had been forecast to reach a maximum of 39C.
France also recorded heat-related deaths over the weekend, as a leading researcher again pointed to the role of human-driven climate change in the latest run of record-breaking temperatures.
In France, 49 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were placed under a red alert weather warning today, up from 35 over the weekend.
Authorities said 845 schools would close today, while another 1,800 schools were expected to allow students to leave earlier than usual.
On Sunday, several towns cancelled an annual music festival, and the government banned alcohol consumption in public places in departments already under the red alert, citing both health concerns and public order.
Parts of France saw thermometers push beyond 40C — an extreme reading for June. In the southwest Gironde region, local officials said the deaths of three people aged between 80 and 95 were partly linked to the intense heat.
French forecasters warned the current heatwave could prove as severe as the one in August 2003, which claimed nearly 15,000 lives in France.
People cooling off at water spouts in Brussels in Belgium
A woman uses an umbrella to protect from the heat during a heatwave in Milan
Transport networks also began to feel the strain, with both France and Belgium announcing reductions to rail services. In France, the cuts mainly affected commuter lines in and around Paris.
Belgium’s national rail company SNCB said some rush-hour trains were cancelled for today and tomorrow, a move aimed at reducing the risk of breakdowns that could leave trains stranded and block tracks.
Belgium could see temperatures “the hottest ever recorded” there in the coming week, according to David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute.
In France, junior ecology minister Mathieu Lefevre described the episode as “particularly intense and particularly early”. The warning comes after several European countries reported record temperatures for that time of year in May.
Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the University of Reading’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science in England, said the pattern behind the successive heat records was unmistakable.
“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,” he said.
Timelapse graphic showing temperatures set to climb in Europe over Monday
Spain’s weather service Aemet warned yesterday of “extremely high” temperatures for the season — both day and night — lasting until Wednesday, with forecasts reaching as high as 44C in some areas.
“Temperatures will drop Thursday, but the heat will remain intense,” it said.
In Madrid, officials yesterday cancelled a public screening on a giant screen of Spain’s World Cup victory over Saudi Arabia because of the extreme heat.
In Britain, Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said existing UK June heat records would be “annihilated” — after similar milestones were already surpassed in May.
“The coming week will bring an unprecedented heatwave with temperatures likely to reach 38-39C,” she predicted. “The current June record is 35.6C. This will lead to two consecutive months, May and June, in which the UK temperature records have been annihilated by well over 2C,” she added.
