Records tumble as European heatwave shifts east

BERLIN/MILAN/COPENHAGEN – Tens of millions face a weekend of extreme temperatures in Europe as a deadly heatwave moves eastwards, with German forecasters warning that more records could be broken and eastern countries issuing a slew of red alerts for the coming days.

AFP analysis suggested almost 200 million people faced temperatures of more than 35 deg C on June 27 as an unprecedented hot spell – which has already seen records tumble in Britain, France and Switzerland – drags on.

Scores of people have died either through heat-related illness or drowning accidents, and emergency services in several countries have said their facilities are saturated.

Street parties and music festivals were cancelled in France, Germany and the Netherlands, though a Pride March went ahead in Budapest despite the extreme heat warnings.

And both Switzerland and France switched off nuclear reactors as the water used for cooling was in danger of overheating nearby rivers.

The German Weather Service issued a red alert for most of the country on June 27, and said late afternoon that it had recorded its highest ever temperature with 41.5 deg C recorded in eastern Germany.

“It can’t be ruled out that temperatures could approach 42 deg C,” the service said, which would mean another all-time heat record just a day after the previous one.

Denmark’s weather service said in the early afternoon on June 27 that the country had recorded its highest temperature ever. An hour later, it said the record had lasted just an hour, with the mercury hitting 37 deg C north of Aarhus.

The Czech Republic also recorded its highest ever temperature, with a reading of 40.8 deg C just north of Prague.

Switzerland broke the record for its hottest June day for the third day in a row on June 27, with the mercury rising to 39 deg C in the northern city of Basel.

Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming driven by humans burning fossil fuels, and are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.

Experts said a “heat dome” of trapped air from North Africa was causing the intense weather, and although the phenomenon was not unprecedented, the temperatures were.

‘Everything is hot’

Romania was the latest country to issue a red alert, putting out a warning that almost the entire country would face extreme heat from June 29 to July 1.

Slovakia had issued a similar warning and confirmed that the night of June 26 had been the warmest on record with temperatures not dropping below 26.3 deg C.

Denis Ovdyienko, a courier, told AFP in Bratislava on June 26 he was struggling to keep cool and had to rely on public fountains.

“I feel like everything is warm. The road is warm, my phone is warm, my head is warm, everything is hot,” said the 26-year-old.

“After four o’clock, the fatigue starts to kick in.”

The Czech Republic, Hungary and Moldova were also on the highest alert for the weekend, with Balkan countries also bracing for a tough few days.

‘Exceptional, extreme’

Although a slew of events was cancelled, many in Germany were soldiering on.

The Berlin Philharmonic said it would continue with its traditional end-of-season outdoor concert in Berlin despite temperatures of up to 41 deg C, but the dress code would be relaxed.

“The gentlemen will perform without jackets, but with a black shirt on top,” a spokeswoman for the orchestra said.

They would be allowed to roll up their sleeves, and the ladies’ tops would not have to be long-sleeved.

The authorities in Paris, however, forced the abandonment of several events, including the city’s annual Pride March.

Deputy mayor in charge of health, Antoine Alibert, said hospitals in the French capital were saturated, echoing comments by several other city leaders across the continent.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told a French newspaper that 74 people have drowned in the country since June 18, mostly after jumping into “unauthorised, unsupervised bodies of water such as rivers, lakes and ponds”.

He told local media stretchers were “piling up in the corridors”, emergency calls had skyrocketed and hospital visits were on the rise.

“We are in the midst of a health crisis. This is an exceptional and extreme heatwave event,” he said. AFP