BBC News
A record number of heat alerts are in place across France as the country, and other parts of southern and eastern Europe, remain in the grip of soaring temperatures.
Some 84 of 96 of France’s mainland regions – known as departments – are currently under an orange alert – the country’s second highest. France’s Climate Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher has called it an “unprecedented” situation.
Heat warnings are also in place for parts of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the UK and Balkan countries including Croatia.
Both Spain and Portugal had their hottest June days on record at the weekend.
El Granado in Andalucía saw a temperature of 46C on Saturday, while 46.6C was recorded in the town of Mora in central Portugal on Sunday.
Many countries have emergency medical services on standby and are warning people to stay inside as much as possible.
Nearly 200 schools across France have been closed or partially closed as a result of the heatwave, which has gripped parts of Europe for more than a week now but is expected to peak mid-week.
Education Minister Elisabeth Borne said she was working with regional authorities over the best ways to look after schoolchildren or to allow parents who can to keep their children at home.
Several forest fires broke out in the southern Corbières mountain range on Sunday, leading to evacuations and the closure of a motorway. They have since been contained, fire authorities told French media on Monday.
Meanwhile, 21 Italian cities are also on the highest alert – including Rome, Milan and Venice, as is Sardinia.
Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine, told AFP news agency that hospital emergency departments across the country had reported a 10% increase in heatstroke cases.
Parts of the UK could see one of the hottest June days ever on Monday, with temperatures of 34C or higher possible in some parts of England.
Much of Spain, which is on course to record its hottest June on record, also continues to be under heat alerts.
“I can’t sleep well and have insomnia. I also get heat strokes, I stop eating and I just can’t focus,” Anabel Sanchez, 21, told Reuters news agency in Seville.
It is a similar situation in Portugal, where seven districts, including the capital, Lisbon, are on the highest alert level.
Meanwhile, the German Meteorological Service has warned that temperatures could reach almost 38C on Tuesday and Wednesday – further potentially record-breaking temperatures.
The heatwave has lowered levels in the Rhine River – a major shipping route – limiting the amount cargo ships can transport and raising freighting costs.
AFPCountries in and around the Balkans have also been struggling with the intense heat, although temperatures have begun to cool slightly.
In Turkey, firefighters continue their efforts to put out hundreds of wildfires that have broken out in recent days.
A fire in the Seferihisar district, 50km (30 miles) south-west of the resort city of Izmir, is being fuelled by winds and has already destroyed around 20 homes and some residential areas have had to be evacuated.
Wildfires have also broken out in Croatia, where severe heat warnings are in place for coastal areas.
Temperatures in Greece have been approaching 40C for several days and coastal towns near the capital Athens last week erupted in flames that destroyed homes – forcing people to evacuate.
On Wednesday, Serbia reported its hottest day since records began, while a record 38.8C was recorded in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday. In Slovenia, the hottest-ever June temperature was recorded on Saturday.
The temperature in North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, reached 42C on Friday – and are expected to continue in that range.
While the heatwave is a potential health issue, it is also impacting the climate. Higher temperatures in the Adriatic Sea are encouraging invasive species such as the poisonous lionfish, while also causing further stress on alpine glaciers that are already shrinking at record rates.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, warned on Monday that the heatwave highlighted the need for climate adaptation – moving away from practices and energy sources, such as fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change.
“Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts, and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more,” he told the UN’s Human Rights Council.
Heatwaves are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Extreme hot weather will happen more often – and become even more intense – as the planet continues to warm, it has said.
Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading in the UK, explained that rising greenhouse gas levels are making it harder for the planet to lose excess heat.
“The warmer, thirstier atmosphere is more effective at drying soils, meaning heatwaves are intensifying, with moderate heat events now becoming extreme.”
