Summer begins with extreme conditions for tens of millions of Europeans, with a new wave of heat linked to climate change, which is currently hitting the Old Continent, from Spain to the United Kingdom and will worsen this weekend, especially in France.
This is the second wave of heat in Western Europe in less than a month. Alarm levels increased in Britain, France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain.
The escalation of the heat in France could be translated by the fact that they were put on red alert, the highest level, many apartments for Sunday, as Météo-France reported today, speaking of an episode that could be comparable to that of August 2003.
Europe swelters in new heatwave with techniques set to rise further
https://t.co/w0IpPSJVtW— The Right News, Right Now. (@BradPorcellato) June 19, 2026
High temperatures resulted in more than 60,000 people being lost in Europe per year in 2023 and 2024, estimated. The figures for 2025 have not yet been published because these estimates, published by the Nature Medicine inspection, require a long time and are complex when analysing them.
It is known, in a more general context, that heat is increasingly lethal on the continent. Between 2015 and 2024, almost all of the European regions recorded an increase in heat-related mortality rates compared to 1991-2000, based on data collected by Lancet, with an average of 52 additional deaths per million inhabitants per year.
Up to 40 degrees Celsius
In France, two-thirds of the apartments will be put on an orange alert tomorrow, including Paris, a situation that led municipal authorities to cancel the Music Day, which was scheduled for Sunday, with very popular street concerts across the country.
The heat episode is expected "extensive, long and intense", warned the Meteorological Service of France (Météo-France). The "remarkable peak of heat" is expected between Sunday and Tuesday, with temperatures reaching "40 degrees Celsius especially in western and central" France, the French weather service predicted. This heat episode now concerns two out of three French.
France was already affected in May by unprecedented temperatures, as were other regions of Europe. This is a "obvious indication of climate change", according to Mathieu Sorell, a climatologist at Météo-France.
At the same time, a new heat wave is expected to begin in the United Kingdom this weekend before a peak scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with mercury expected at 34 degrees Celsius or even higher, according to the British weather service Met office.
Authorities declared an orange alert for Monday and Tuesday a large portion of southern England, including London.
The record of the highest temperature ever recorded in June, 35.6 degrees Celsius, 1957 and 1976, could be surpassed early next week, according to the Met office. The spring of 2026 (from early March to late May) was the hottest ever recorded for England and Wales, according to Met.
In Spain, authorities issued an alert regarding a wave of extreme heat expected to hit most of the country, such as the Balearic Islands from Sunday.
Mercury is expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in some areas in the eastern part of the country.
In Switzerland, Basel was put on a level 4 alert (on the five-degree scale) by Météo Suisse with temperatures expected to reach 37 degrees Celsius. In Geneva, pupils aged 4-5 will not go to school on Monday and Tuesday.
In Germany, the country's weather service warns of a "strong to extreme thermal stress in a large part of the territory", with storms.
From Hungary to Slovakia and Austria, very high temperatures are expected. In Austria, the heat wave is expected to continue until the beginning of next week, with heavy storm breaks in the mountain areas in the west.