Europe heat wave ‘virtually impossible’ without human impact

Europe’s record-breaking heat wave would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to a rapid study published on Friday by the World Weather Attribution group.

The researchers said the extreme temperatures are now up to 200 times more likely than just two decades ago.

Millions across France, Italy, Spain and the UK have faced temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), with high nighttime heat preventing recovery. Researchers said a similar event in 1976 would have been around 3.5C cooler by day and significantly cooler at night.

The study found that nearly half of the 850 cities analyzed across Europe have reached or are expected to reach record heat-stress levels, combining temperature and humidity.

“Scientists like me are beginning to sound like a broken record,” said Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at Imperial College London.

“We put out similar quotes year after year, reacting to heat extremes that climb ever higher.”

“Yes, this is climate change, yes, it’s us, no, it’s not El Nino. Yes, we have the solutions. No, we’re not implementing them fast enough.”

Join us on this sweltering Friday morning as we resume our coverage of the record-breaking heat wave still gripping Europe.

A new rapid study found that nearly half of the 850 cities analyzed across Europe have reached or are expected to reach record heat-stress levels, combining temperature and humidity.

Researchers say the current heat is 200 times more likely now than just 20 years ago — and this is due to global warming.

Meanwhile, a ban on public consumption of alcohol in Parisis due to go into effect from midday.

We will be bringing you the latest updates across Europe as the continent tries to stay cool.

As people in Europe settle in for another hot night, we’re pausing our coverage of the heat wave. 

We will be back in the morning for what is forecast to be another day of scorching temperatures. 

French authorities have decided to ban the public consumption of alcohol in Paris starting midday on Friday. 

“I will publish an edict this evening which will ban the consumption of alcohol in public from tomorrow midday onwards. As you know, drinking alcohol with the sun beating down can have a devastating effect,” Paris police chief Patrice Faure told French media. 

Faure said we are “reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities,” while adding that the “number of hospitalizations keeps increasing.”

The order prohibits public booze consumption from noon on Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday and 12 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday. 

Takeaway alcohol purchases would also be banned during those time frames. The degree is also relevant for stores which exclusively sell alcoholic beverages. 

Restaurants and bars holding the necessary permits are not impacted by the ban, Paris police said.     

London Ambulance Service (LAS) said Thursday it had recorded its highest ever number of life-threatening emergencies in one day because of “extreme heat” across the capital.

“We have seen the highest number of life-threatening emergencies in our history, driven by the extreme heat across London,” Chief Executive Jason Killens KAM said.

The service said that it responded to 642 “Category 1” calls on Wednesday, when the UK experienced its hottest June day on record, which was surpassed again on Thursday. 

Category 1 incidents include the most serious, life-threatening injuries and illnesses, including cardiac arrests and patients who are not breathing.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Met Office extended its red heat alert into Friday — the first time such warnings have been issued for three consecutive days.

“Significant disruption to daily life is likely and the public should take every effort to adapt their daily routines to cope with these levels ​of heat, which up to now have been extremely rare for the UK,” said Andy Page, a chief meteorologist at the Met Office.

France’s electricity utility EDF has shut down two more nuclear reactors as river temperatures have risen to the extent that discharged cooling water causes them to go beyond environmental limits aimed at protecting plant and animal life.

This means three reactors are now out of operation in France.

For similar reasons, Switzerland has said it is reducing operations at its Beznau plant, adding that it would shut down reactors if the extreme heat continued. 

At least 101 million people in Europe will continue to experience extreme heat above 35 C (95 F) on Thursday, according to an analysis by the AFP news agency.

Those sweltering will include some 50 million in France and 18 million in Germany.

More than 380 million people — nearly two-thirds of the population — will have to endure temperatures above 30 C across Europe excluding Turkey.

That includes 70 million people in Germany, 63 million in mainland France, 48 million in Italy and 38 million in Britain.

The analysis is based on forecasts from the German weather service and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre.

On Wednesday, the German weather service said 94 million people were hit by temperatures exceeding 35 C.

The temperature in the western town of Bad Bergzabern overnight to Thursday equalled a heat record of 26.2 C (79.16 F) set in 2019 in the same state of Rhineland-Palatinate, according to preliminary data from the German weather service (DWD).

DWD meteorologist Jens Winninghoff has told the DPA news agency that another record, for the highest June temperature in Germany, could be set on Friday with extreme heat forecast in the west and southwest of the country.

In countries like the United States, Australia and Japan, the hot, sticky summer months are made bearable by the blast of chilled air provided by a humming air conditioner.

But across large parts of Europe, the solution is often decidedly low-tech: shut the shades, fire up the fan and keep plenty of ice water within reach.

Around 90% of people living in the US have air conditioning at home, according to the US Department of Energy. In Europe, which has a similar climate, that figure is only about 20%, though it does vary across the continent. In a sunny southern country like Spain, around half of households have cooling, while in Germany it’s around just 6%.

There’s a good reason for that. Until recently, air conditioning wasn’t seen as a necessity in many European countries, especially in the north.

DW looks at why Germans are hesitant when it comes to embracing air conditioners here.

The record heat wave affecting much of Europe could possibly have played a role in 212 deaths in Spain between Sunday and Wednesday, according to estimates of excess mortality from a monitoring system.

The MoMo monitoring system compiles daily death statistics in the country and examines probable factors driving mortality spikes, including weather.

On the same four days in 2025, it registered an excess mortality of 98 deaths amid what was up to then the hottest summer in Spain on record, with heat-related deaths between May 16 and September 30 hitting 3,832.

That was an 87.6% increase over the same period in 2024, according to MoMo data.

Excess mortality is the term used by public health authorities to denote the difference between the actual and expected numbers of death in a specific period, using historical data as a basis.  

Spain is one of the European countries hardest-hit by climate change.

Mainland Spain this week recorded its highest mean daily temperatures — the average of the highest and lowest temperatures in a 24-hour period — in June since at least 1950, registering 28.08 C (82.54 F) on Monday followed by 28.17 C (82.7 F) on Tuesday.

Most weather alerts have been lifted on Thursday, with the lowest yellow level in force in the north.

A court in the French capital, Paris, is set to rule Thursday on a landmark climate change case against energy giant TotalEnergies, as the country continues to face a heat wave that has been aggravated by the burning of fossil fuels.

NGOs and the city of Paris have argued that the corporation is in violation of a 2017 law requiring companies to prevent human rights abuses and environmental risks.

It is the first time the law is being applied to a case involving climate change.

Environmental groups Notre Affaire à Tous, Sherpa, ZEA, and France Nature Environnement have asked the court to order the company to reduce oil production by 37% and gas production by 25% by 2030.

The lawsuit, launched in 2020, also calls for a halt to all new fossil fuel projects.

The current heat wave in Europe has been driven by the human use of fossil fuels and will be followed by more extreme heat events in the future if this does not stop, the United Nations climate chief said on Thursday.

“Europe’s savage heat wave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it — it’s the latest price to pay for fossil fuel pollution baking our planet,” Simon Stiell said in a statement.

“Until humanity stops burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, extreme heat will keep getting worse,” he said.

The head of the UN’s climate experts panel, the IPCC, also said on Wednesday that Europe will face more such heat waves in the future as the planet warms.

“Inevitably, we’re going to experience more of what we’ve been seeing over the last few days,” Jim Skea told journalists.

A scientific study released this week cited by the AFP news agency said the ongoing heat wave has been “significantly exacerbated by human-induced climate change,” adding 2-4 degrees C (3.6-7.2 F) to temperatures. 

Trade unions have called on the EU to push for European workers to be given breaks without loss of pay to recover from the heat amid temperatures like those currently affecting the continent.

“The cooling breaks being used at the World Cup have put the spotlight on the danger posed to workers by extreme heat and the kind of measures that can be taken to keep people safe,” Esther Lynch, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said.

“Builders, fruit pickers or bus drivers need a lot longer than three minutes to recover, but it is a good example of how work can be adapted to the changing climate,” she said.

The ETUC said there has been a rise of workplace deaths in the past two decades as the Earth warms owing to human-induced climate change.

It said the risk of accidents in the workplace goes up 7% at temperatures above 30 C (86F) and up to 15% at 38 C and above.

The world football governing body FIFA has ordered three-minute hydration breaks in the middle of each half of World Cup matches this year to protect players’ health.

The ETUC says it represents 45 million workers from 94 trade unions in 42 countries.

People who balk at the idea of their planned and booked train trip amid the current temperatures are in luck, thanks to an understanding Deutsche Bahn (DB), the national rail operator.

“Anyone not wishing to take their journey in this extreme weather situation will get their money back,” the state-owned company said in a statement.

It even recommended that anybody able to postpone or cancel their trip should do so in the current weather conditions.

All tickets for long-distance trips bought by June 23 are covered by the offer until June 30.

It is the first time DB has offered refunds because of extreme heat.

The extreme heat is also causing problems for the railway system as a whole.

Air conditioning units in trains may no longer give out in very hot conditions as they often used to do. Moreover, points and safety technology can be damaged by the intense sunlight.

There is also a higher risk of fires breaking out alongside tracks, while the heavy rainstorms that often follow hot periods in Germany can also cause problems.

Last summer, heat already caused problems with several points in June and July and led to cancellations and delays, a situation that could easily arise again this year.

Good morning on yet another unusually hot day from DW’s Bonn newsroom.

Today, temperatures across Germany and much of Europe are forecast to get even hotter than in the first part of the week, and we can confirm we are already feeling it!

We will continue to give you the latest updates, videos and analyses on this unforgiving heat wave across much of the European continent. Stay tuned!