A punishing high-pressure heat dome has trapped an extraordinary mass of hot air from North Africa over much of Western Europe this week, driving temperatures across the continent above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and triggering a wave of all-time temperature records — even though the peak of the summer heat season is still weeks away.
What makes this heat event particularly anomalous is its timing: extreme heat of this severity has arrived far earlier than the mid-summer window when such conditions are normally expected. The combination of soaring peak temperatures and unusually high overnight readings, paired with stifling humidity, has created conditions far more akin to a tropical climate than the temperate weather the region typically experiences in June. Day after night after day, existing national and regional temperature records have fallen one after another.
The hot air mass originating in North Africa has spread across Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, bringing searing conditions to regions that rarely see prolonged extreme heat. Unlike many warmer climate regions, most buildings and homes across these countries lack widespread, accessible air conditioning, leaving millions of residents without a reliable way to escape the oppressive heat.
While meteorologists forecast that temperatures will gradually cool in the coming days, climate experts warn that the worst of the 2024 European summer is still ahead, with the historically hottest months of July and August still to come. To put the scale of this early heat wave in perspective, a series of staggering record-breaking measurements illustrate its unprecedented breadth and intensity:
In the small southwestern French town of Pissos, observers recorded a high of 43.8 degrees Celsius (110.8 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, making it the hottest temperature recorded across France during this heat event. For context, this reading is far above the average June high for the region of 25 degrees Celsius.
Across the entire country of France, the Meteo France national weather agency confirmed that the 24-hour average temperature hit 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) at 30 monitoring stations on Wednesday. This marks the first time in recorded French weather history that a nationwide 24-hour average has reached this threshold, officially making Wednesday the hottest day France has ever experienced. Unlike heat events that only push daytime highs in small regions, this average — measured across both day and night hours across dozens of locations — confirms that this heat wave is far more geographically extensive than any previous heat event on record. In response to the crisis, French authorities placed more than three-quarters of the country under red-level extreme heat alerts, another first in the nation’s history.
Across the English Channel, the United Kingdom also logged a new milestone on Thursday: a reading of 36.4 degrees Celsius (97.5 Fahrenheit) in Somerset, southern England, making it the hottest June day ever recorded in the country. UK meteorological services have extended red heat warnings for most of central and southern England, as well as Wales, urging residents to stay hydrated and avoid unnecessary outdoor activity.
Even overnight temperatures have reached record levels, leaving vulnerable populations with no relief from the swelter. Germany’s national weather service reported that temperatures did not drop below 26.2 degrees Celsius (79.2 Fahrenheit) in Bad Bergzabern, a town in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. That reading matches the all-time record for Germany’s warmest night, originally set in July 2019. Across the Channel in Plymouth, England, overnight temperatures only fell to 23.0 degrees Celsius (73.4 Fahrenheit), a provisional new record for the warmest June night in the country. High humidity has trapped heat close to the ground across the region, keeping temperatures elevated well after sunset for millions of people.
The extreme heat has already claimed lives. In France alone, at least 40 people have died in drowning incidents over the past week as residents flocked to rivers and lakes to cool off, ignoring repeated official warnings about the dangers of unsupervised swimming. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that most of the victims were young people. Related heat-related hazards have spread across the continent, with organizers of Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix declaring an official heat hazard as the event proceeds amid scorching conditions. This extreme heat event also coincides with a landmark court ruling on climate change in Paris, adding a layer of urgency to ongoing policy debates about climate adaptation and mitigation across Europe.
Even Spain, a country familiar with summer heat, has faced extraordinary conditions. The northern Spanish village of Tama, long known for its cool, green Atlantic-facing landscape, hit an all-time record high of 43.7 degrees Celsius (110 Fahrenheit) earlier this week, a remarkable reading for a region that typically enjoys temperate summer weather. This heat wave has extended far into Spain’s normally cooler northern Atlantic coastal regions, areas that rarely face extreme heat warnings.
Reporting for this article was contributed by Pan Pylas in London, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin, James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf, Germany, and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona.