Zürcher Nachrichten - More records set to fall as deadly Europe heatwave drags on

The latest heatwave has raised fears of the effects of climate change-supercharged extreme weather on vulnerable people, while forcing the cancellation of outdoor events, causing transport chaos and shuttering schools.

It comes just a month after a previous stretch of unseasonably high temperatures scorched western Europe, with scientists warning that the increasingly frequent, lengthy and intense periods of extreme heat are a clear marker of human-driven global warming.

- France crisis meeting -

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was scheduled to hold a crisis meeting on Tuesday, an aide said, after forecaster Meteo France reported that the country's average temperature had broken a record for the month of June.

Average daytime and nighttime temperatures reached 29.2C on Monday, beating the previous high reached on June 30, 2025, according to provisional data, while the central village of Chateaumeillant recorded a sweltering 43.3C.

French authorities blamed the extreme weather for the deaths of two children, aged two and four, found on Monday in their family car in a residential parking lot in the southern town of Carpentras.

The day before, three elderly people died in their residence in Gironde in the southwest as a result of the high temperatures.

At the Pean nursing home for the retired in Paris, the staff have jumped into action to protect vulnerable residents, carrying around pitchers of water.

"It's not enough to put down a glass of water and tell them to drink. You have to be sure they actually do," said head nurse Badra Hamadi.

- UK record under threat -

Weeks after the UK broke its May temperature record, the British weather forecaster issued a top-level weather warning for only the second time in its history, covering parts of England for Wednesday and Thursday.

"It is now likely the current highest temperature on record for June will be broken, this being 35.6C recorded in Southampton in June 1976 and Camden Square in June 1957," the Met Office said.

That milestone is set to be topped as early as Tuesday in southern England, where the weather forecaster expects highs of 37C, before the temperatures potentially rise to as high as 40C in some places on Wednesday and Thursday.

The warning runs from 9:00 am (0800 GMT) on Wednesday to 9:00 pm on Thursday and covers a large area of central and southern England, including London and Birmingham, the UK's two largest cities.

Schools in southwest England said they were planning to finish the day early and a train company said it was cancelling or changing some of its services out of London because of the "severe weather".

- Italy on high alert -

Italy's health ministry declared a red heatwave alert in 15 cities including Milan and Rome for Tuesday and said the number would go up to 16 on Wednesday.

During a red alert -- the highest level -- the ministry advises people to eat light, stay indoors in the hottest parts of the day and sprinkle themselves with cool water.

In the capital, the transport authority admitted that the batteries on the city's new electric buses are running out before the end of the drivers' shifts because of more intensive use of air conditioning.

"We are organising the service to face up to this unusual heatwave," the Atac transport authority was quoted by the Corriere della Sera daily as saying.

- Iberian 'climate refuge' -

In Spain's capital, Madrid, where temperatures peaked at 40C on Monday, city hall set up a "climate refuge" for homeless and vulnerable people, open between midday and 8:00 pm, which provides water, food and hygiene facilities.

In the southern city of Cordoba, doctor Clarisa Arismendi, 32, was trying to take a break from the heat.

"Eating an ice cream because it's horrible, it feels catastrophic. I don't know what temperature we're at, but it feels horrendous... and I'm from Mexico," she told AFP.

Portugal's weather agency is expecting Tuesday to be the peak of the heatwave in the Iberian nation.

- Drownings rise -

French Sports and Youth Minister Marina Ferrari told the France Inter broadcaster Tuesday that around 20 people had drowned since the beginning of the weekend.

She urged swimmers flocking to the country's waters in a bid to beat the heat to respect safety rules.

That warning carried over to Germany, where police said five people had died in fatal swimming accidents over the weekend.

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G.Kuhn--NZN