Inside Europe's most brutal June heatwave yet: Thousands dead as heat shatters century-old records

The UK and large parts of Europe recorded their hottest June on record last month, with temperatures in several countries breaching 40 degrees Celsius, according to a BBC report published on Saturday.

How bad was the heat in the UK?

The UK's provisional highest June temperature reached 37.7 degrees Celsius in Lingwood, Norfolk, surpassing the country's previous June record of 35.6 degrees Celsius set in 1957 and equalled in 1976. More than 170 weather stations across the UK broke their previous records, mostly in England and Wales, with some local records also broken in Scotland and Northern Ireland.


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Cardiff recorded its warmest June night on record, with temperatures not dropping below 23.5 degrees Celsius on the night of June 24 into June 25, the report said. Most of England and Wales experienced at least one tropical night in June, when temperatures do not fall below 20 degrees Celsius, historically a rare occurrence in the country.

UK Met Office chief scientist Stephen Belcher said human-induced climate change has made such heatwaves more likely and more intense.

Which European countries were hit hardest?

More than a dozen European countries broke their June temperature records, BBC reported. Hungary recorded the continent's highest temperature at 42 degrees Celsius, followed by the Czech Republic at 41.9 degrees Celsius, Germany at 41.8 degrees Celsius, and Croatia at 41 degrees Celsius. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Denmark and Lithuania also recorded their hottest Junes on record. Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany and Denmark set records for any month of the year, not just June, according to the report.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said a total of 252 weather stations in Germany recorded all-time temperature records, the highest number ever, with the eastern town of Coschen reporting 41.7 degrees Celsius on June 28. Hungary recorded a new June record of 40.7 degrees Celsius near Budapest on the same day, while Poland and the Czech Republic also set new all-time temperature records.

France and Spain recorded their hottest June days on record in terms of national average temperatures. Separately, Météo-France said the country recorded its hottest day on record on June 24, with a national average temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, beating a record set the previous day, while one town reached 43.8 degrees Celsius.

How many people have died in the heatwave?

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded across Europe since June 21, with over 150 million people affected by the heat. He said heatwaves of this intensity are now about 30 times more likely to occur than before climate change, adding that an event once expected roughly once in 300 years now occurs more often than once a decade.

France's public health agency reported 1,000 excess deaths linked to the heatwave that began on June 20, with most of the deaths among people aged 65 and above.

What is driving the extreme heat?

WMO's head of climate information, John Kennedy, said heatwaves of this kind are expected in a changing climate, noting that Europe has warmed by around two degrees Celsius in the 50 years since the historic 1976 heatwave and remains the fastest-warming continent.

Europe has warmed faster than any other continent over the past century, with average temperatures for the decade ending 2025 measuring 0.87 degrees Celsius above the long-term average. The report attributed the trend partly to melting snow and ice cover and a reduction in polluting particles in the air, both of which reduce the reflection of solar energy back into space.

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Sonia Seneviratne, professor at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich, said the June heat was unusual compared to historical measurements but not unexpected given the warming climate, according to BBC. Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said the scale by which UK records were broken, by more than two degrees Celsius in some cases, was extraordinary.

Were sea temperatures affected too?

Sea surface temperatures around Europe were also above average in June, with the White Sea recording a rise of 3.4 degrees Celsius and the Bay of Biscay 2.1 degrees Celsius above the 1993-2022 average.