Europe braced today for a punishing heatwave to tighten its grip in the days ahead, as governments across the continent moved to blunt the impact of soaring temperatures.
In southeastern France, two children aged two and four were found dead in their family’s car today as a sweltering air mass pushed temperatures sharply higher across much 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 high of 39C.
France also reported heat-related deaths over the weekend, as a leading researcher renewed warnings that human-driven climate change had helped fuel the latest record-breaking heatwave.
Officials said 845 schools would close today, while another 1,800 were due to allow students to leave earlier than usual.
Yesterday, several towns cancelled an annual music festival, and the government barred alcohol consumption in public places in departments already under red weather alert, citing health and public order concerns.
Temperatures climbed above 40C in some parts of France – highly unusual for June. In the southwestern Gironde region, local authorities said the deaths of three people aged between 80 and 95 were partly linked to the extreme heat.
French forecasters say the current heatwave could prove as severe as the one in August 2003, which claimed nearly 15,000 lives in France.
People seeking relief at water spouts in Brussels in Belgium
A woman shelters under an umbrella from the heat during a heatwave in Milan
France and Belgium both announced cuts to rail services, with France’s reductions focused mainly on commuter routes in and around Paris.
Belgium’s national rail operator SNCB said some rush-hour trains had been cancelled for today and tomorrow to lower the risk of breakdowns that could block the tracks.
Belgium could see “the hottest ever recorded” temperatures in the coming week, warned David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute.
France’s junior minister for ecology Mathieu Lefevre said the heatwave was “particularly intense and particularly early”. In May, several European countries recorded temperatures unprecedented for that time of year.
Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the University of Reading’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science in England, said the surge in heat records left little doubt about the underlying cause.
“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 poised to rise across Europe over Monday
Spain’s weather service Aemet warned yesterday that temperatures would remain “extremely high” for the time of year, by day and by night, until Wednesday. Forecasts show highs of 44C in some areas.
“Temperatures will drop Thursday, but the heat will remain intense,” it added.
Yesterday, officials in Madrid 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” – just as they already had been 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.
Here in Ireland, temperatures are forecast to reach 31C by Thursday.
