The United Kingdom and Switzerland each recorded their hottest June day on Thursday, as an exceptional heatwave across western Europe was linked to further deaths and a sharp rise in medical emergencies. The UK's provisional high of 36.7C was logged at Merryfield in Somerset, surpassing the previous June record of 36.1C set only a day earlier in Gosport, Hampshire, and the longstanding peak of 35.6C recorded in Southampton in 1976.
MétéoSuisse said temperatures exceeded 37C for the first time in June, with 38C measured at its Basel station, breaking a national record set in 1947. In Wales, Cardiff experienced the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in June, failing to fall below 23.5C overnight. Across the region, Agence France-Presse estimated that at least 101 million people were expected to endure temperatures above 35C on Thursday.
In France, where three-quarters of the country remained under extreme heat alert, prosecutors linked the death of a three-year-old boy to the heat after he became trapped in a car in the Paris suburbs. The boy had apparently climbed into the family vehicle and was unable to escape because of child locks. Earlier in the week, extreme temperatures were linked to the deaths of two other young children, while officials said at least 40 people, many of them young, had drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas. The mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, said mortality had increased in the capital, though he declined to give figures. Health officials reported 25 cardiac arrests in Paris within 24 hours on Wednesday, compared with an average of fewer than ten, and a fourfold increase in heat-related emergency room visits nationwide. Three nuclear reactors were shut down because the cooling waters were too warm, and Paris opened parks and gardens to help residents cope.
Spain's heatwave is thought to have been responsible for 212 deaths between Sunday and Wednesday, based on estimates from a public institute comparing daily death statistics with historical records. The country recorded its highest average daily temperatures for June since at least 1950, with 28.2C on Tuesday, and the Cantabrian village of Tama hit 43.7C. In Italy, courts in Palermo, Sicily, suspended non-urgent hearings until 29 June owing to malfunctioning air conditioning, while the newspaper Corriere della Sera reported five deaths caused by the heat, including two farmworkers and a builder.
The Netherlands issued a rare red alert for Friday as temperatures were forecast to soar, while Germany braced for highs of 35-41C in parts of the country over the weekend. The national rail operator Deutsche Bahn advised customers against travel because of the heightened risk of disruption from wildfires, heavy rain and thunderstorms, and open-air sports events were cancelled.
