Europe Experiences Record-Breaking Heatwave with Temperatures Soaring Above 41°C

Europe has experienced another day of extreme heat with temperature records being broken across the continent again on Saturday. Germany set a new all-time high for the second day in a row, as temperatures reached 41.5°C, according to provisional data. On Saturday, records also fell in Denmark and the Czech Republic as the unprecedented early summer heatwave moved further north and east affecting more people. An estimated 150 million people in Europe are now experiencing temperatures of over 35°C. The World Meteorological Organization has warned the heatwave would have "major impacts" to health and ecosystems. The heatwave – which began in the Iberian peninsula – has been linked to the deaths of hundreds of people over the past week. Germany's preliminary record of 41.5°C was set in Möckern-Drewitz in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany's Meteorological Service said. That surpassed a record of 41.3°C set just a day earlier in Saarbrucken near the French border. "This heat isn't pleasant summer weather. It's a health crisis," Katrin Goering-Eckardt, a German politician and former leader of the Green Party, said on X. In Berlin, police deployed two water cannons to spray mist onto people. The Czech Republic recorded its highest-ever temperature on Saturday, with a reading of 40.8°C at a weather station in Doksany north of Prague, the national meteorological service (CHMI) said. And forecasters in Denmark said a provisional temperature of 37°C was recorded in Odum, near Aarhus. This exceeded the previous all-time record of 36.4°C set in 1976. Switzerland broke the record for its hottest-ever June day for the third day in a row on Saturday, with the mercury rising to 39°C in the northern city of Basel. "This exceptional heatwave has been caused by a slow-moving persistent area of high pressure, a so-called 'heat dome'," according to the BBC's lead weather presenter Ben Rich. "Underneath the high pressure system sinking air compressed and warmed, lifting temperatures day by day. "The skies have remained largely cloud-free, allowing strong sunshine to heat things up even more", he added. Since the heatwave began, the number of drowning deaths in France has risen to at least 55. An estimated two-thirds of them had been swimming in unsupervised areas. Spain's MoMo monitoring system has recorded 327 deaths that could be linked to the heat between Sunday and Thursday. Europe is the World's fastest-warming continent – because of a range of factors including the rapid heating of the Arctic, and changes in the pattern of the jet stream. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution say a heatwave of this magnitude so early in the summer would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago. They say climate change is "unequivocally" to blame. The extreme heat will continue over the weekend into Monday with temperatures above 40°C still possible in places, says BBC weather forecaster Ben Rich. However cooler conditions developing in the west of the continent will sweep eastwards to bring some relief later in the week.