Europe heatwave weather warnings spread across Western Europe on Friday as temperatures climbed and authorities raised alerts in France, Britain, Spain, Switzerland and Germany. In France, hundreds of schools changed timetables to cope, while forecasters said Paris could go above 40C for the first time on a June day.
Alex Deakin of the Met Office said to AFP: "we're seeing more extremes of temperatures, we're breaking records more frequently". He also said: "When you get hot spells, they're that much hotter. And when you get rainy spells, they're that much rainier," linking the present surge in heat to a broader shift that scientists say is driven by human activity.
France Schools and Paris Heat
France faced the most immediate disruption. Hundreds of schools tweaked their timetables, a sign that the heat was already changing daily routines before the highest temperatures arrived.
Forecasters warned of an intense and long-lasting heatwave in France. Temperatures in Paris could soar above 40C for the first time on a June day, a threshold that would push the city into territory more usually associated with the height of summer than late spring.
Britain and the Met Office
Britain, France, Spain, Switzerland and Germany raised alert levels for the coming days, and some cities in northern and central Italy did too. The UK's Met Office said there was a 40 percent chance of beating the record temperature for a June day set in 1976.
Britain's temperatures were not expected to be as intense as those on the continent, even after England and Wales had already experienced the hottest spring ever recorded. That leaves Britain watching a heat event that is severe enough to trigger warnings, but not yet as extreme as the hottest forecasts across France and Spain.
Spain and Switzerland Alerts
Spain's civil protection agency warned of a prolonged spell of extreme heat affecting most of Spain and the Balearic Islands from Sunday and through much of next week. That warning extends the heat risk beyond Friday's peak, giving residents and local services a longer window of exposure.
Schaffhouse recorded its hottest June temperature ever at 35.7C on Friday, and temperatures in Switzerland were expected to rise in the coming days, putting other records at risk. Germany's forecasters also said parts of Germany needed to be on alert for thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain over the weekend, a reminder that the same weather pattern can bring more than one hazard at once.
The next change to watch is whether the temperatures in France, Spain and Switzerland actually break the June records now in view. For anyone in the warned areas, the immediate signal is already in place: alerts are up, school routines in France have shifted, and Spain's prolonged warning begins on Sunday and runs through much of next week.
