A heat wave affects a number of countries, and in Britain and France, among others, records were broken on Wednesday.
The towering temperatures during the ongoing heat wave is reaching new levels in several countries.
On Wednesday, a temperature record for June was broken in Great Britain with 35.8 degrees Celsius in southern England.
This is reported by the British weather service Met Office according to the Reuters news agency.
The temperature has been measured in the village of Wiggonholt in West Sussex.
Also in the French capital, Paris, a June record was broken on Wednesday. Here, 40.9 degrees Celsius was measured in Paris-Longchamp.
The heat wave has affected large parts of Europe in recent days.
In Spain, Monday and Tuesday led to June records. These were records in the daily average temperature.
And Wednesday is the hottest day ever recorded in France, according to the national weather service, according to the AFP news agency.
That assessment is based on the national temperature indicator, which reached 30 degrees Celsius on Wednesday according to preliminary measurements. It is an average of day and night temperatures across 30 measuring stations.
On Tuesday, which was also a record, the indicator was 29.8 degrees Celsius.
In France, the heat has, among other things, led to school closures, canceled trains and shortened opening hours at attractions. In addition, heat waves cause excess mortality, which particularly affects the elderly and the chronically ill.
And at least 48 have drowned in France, as far more than usual try to cool off in the water.
On Wednesday, a total of 94 million people in Europe are expected to experience temperatures of over 35 degrees Celsius. This is shown by calculations from the AFP news agency.
That is well over ten percent of the continent’s population. Most of them are located in France and Spain.
The heat wave in Europe has been worse than some forecasts had predicted.
Jim Skea, who is chairman of the UN’s Climate Panel, IPCC, says according to AFP that it cannot be disputed that the continent will be hit by more extreme weather in the future.
– It is inevitable that we will experience more of what we have seen in recent days, he says.
The heat wave comes after heat records were also broken in several places in Europe this spring. France, England, Wales and Norway experienced the highest average temperatures for the spring months so far.
/ritzau/
