A devastating record-breaking heatwave that swept across Western Europe in late June has left a sharp spike in mortality, with new official figures revealing thousands of excess deaths in France and the Netherlands alone. As communities begin to tally the human cost of the extreme heat event, meteorological agencies across the continent are already warning of another round of searing temperatures set to hit large swathes of Europe starting this weekend, compounding risks of wildfires and public health crises.
The mortality data from France’s public health agency, released Friday, confirms that between June 22 and 28 — the peak of the June heatwave — total deaths rose by 2,025, a 29% increase compared to the previous week. In the Paris region, death rates jumped by a staggering 62% compared to baseline figures. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist noted that the sharpest rise in fatalities was recorded among people over 45 years old, and agency officials warned that the initial death count is likely an underestimate, meaning the final toll will be even higher.
Beyond heat-related health complications, the heatwave also led to a surge in recreational drowning deaths as crowds sought relief from high temperatures in bodies of water. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed that 72 people have drowned across the country since June 18, when the extreme heat event began.
To the north, Dutch authorities released their own mortality data Thursday, reporting approximately 480 excess deaths during last week’s unprecedented heat, which pushed temperatures to nearly 40°C in parts of the Netherlands. The vast majority of these fatalities were adults aged 80 and older, with most deaths concentrated in the country’s hotter southern and eastern regions.
The June heatwave made history for France: on June 24, the country recorded its hottest ever average national temperature, with Paris hitting nearly 41°C and half of the country placed under the highest-level red heat alert. The extreme heat has also created tinder-dry conditions across southern France, spawning thousands of wildfires that have burned more than 8,700 hectares of land since the start of summer. On Thursday alone, a fast-spreading wildfire that ignited in Sainte-Marie-la-Mer forced nearly 3,000 residents to evacuate as it spread to the nearby town of Canet-en-Roussillon. In response, Météo-France has issued red wildfire alerts for Friday and Saturday across southern France, warning that current conditions leave a “very high” risk of new fire outbreaks compared to typical summer seasons.
As the continent recovers from the June heat event, a new mass of high pressure is building across the Atlantic, moving from the Azores toward the Iberian Peninsula, BBC Weather reports. By this weekend, the system is expected to push temperatures soaring back across France and into southern Britain. Forecasts predict temperatures will reach 40°C in southern France, with high temperatures between 36°C and 37°C expected in the cities of Bordeaux, Toulouse and Agen.
The Iberian Peninsula is also bracing for new extreme heat. Portugal’s government has declared a state of alert running through midnight Tuesday, with forecasts showing temperatures exceeding 40°C in some regions, and even overnight lows staying above 25°C. In neighboring Spain, parts of the southwest are under orange heat alert, with 40°C highs expected across multiple areas.
The repeated extreme heat events come against a backdrop of human-caused climate change, which has accelerated warming across Europe far faster than the global average. The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the rate of the global average. This long-term warming has driven a steady increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of summer heatwaves, straining water supplies, worsening wildfire risk, and creating persistent public health dangers across the continent.
The wave of extreme heat is not limited to Europe: millions of Americans gathering for July Fourth holiday weekend across central and eastern parts of the U.S. are already grappling with prolonged extreme heat combined with stifling high humidity, triggering public health warnings across multiple U.S. states.