Annice Lyn/Getty ImagesPaul Kirby, Europe digital editor, Laura Gozzi and Bethany Bell, In Leipzig25 June 2026, 13:22 BSTUpdated 1 hour agoHeatwave conditions that have left Spain, France and the UK sweltering for days are set to shift to the east, with forecasters in Germany and the Czech Republic warning of extreme conditions.Temperatures in Germany could hit 40C in some western and south-western areas on Thursday, and across the country on Friday. An extreme weather warning is now in place in much of the Czech Republic.In France, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced the health alert level is being raised to its highest, to boost hospital staffing and protect the vulnerable.Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said they were now seeing deaths linked to the extreme temperatures among “young people who suffer cardiac arrests”, as well as the elderly.United Nations climate change chief Simon Stiell has said “Europe’s savage heatwave has the fingerprints of the climate crisis all over it”, and he has called for “a faster shift to renewables, protecting forests and boosting climate resilience”.After France recorded its hottest day on Wednesday for the second day in a row, records continue to be broken. Météo-France said the average minimum temperature reached 22C on Wednesday night. Nantes saw 27.2C in the north-west.European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imageryAfter days of high temperatures in Paris, the health minister said the ambulance service in Paris had seen four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period, although she stressed there were no confirmed figures for the number of deaths linked to the heatwave.Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the mortality rate was on the rise in the capital.”We must not believe ourselves to be invulnerable,” he told French TV. “I am thinking especially about the youth… At about 19:30 last night… I saw 100 or so joggers on the street. Frankly, that’s irresponsible.””It’s fine to take a couple of days off from exercising,” he added.Getty ImagesMeanwhile, a three-year-old child has been found dead in a car in the Paris region, days after two young children were found dead in the family’s car in the southern town of Carpentras.In the north-western city of Rennes, the head of the Accident and Emergency department Professor Louis Soulas linked the deaths of five or six people in their homes in the region to the extreme temperatures.Emergency services had gone to check in on them after they had failed to pick up their phones during welfare calls, said Soulas: “It’s not just the very elderly; it’s people aged 60 and up.”Live updates: Temperatures top 33C in UK and red extreme heat warning is extendedHow to cope in a heatwave – according to you16 hours agoRennes saw a record 40.6C on Monday, only for that to be broken by 41C the following day. The previous record dated back to 2022.The region’s intensive care units were “saturated,” he warned. “We are truly at a peak of activity.”Sébastien Lecornu said France’s Orsan health emergency plan was now moving to level three so the health system could “withstand the strain over time and protect the most vulnerable”.French teachers’ unions are calling for a strike in response to “unacceptable working conditions” in the heat. They said that despite having called for mitigation measures to be taken “nothing was done” and the “health of staff, students and their working conditions are being jeopardised”.Three nuclear plants in France have gone offline due to the heat.Some western regions are now bracing for huge thunderstorms from Thursday afternoon onwards. Gusts of up to 110km/h (68mph) are expected on France’s Atlantic coast, and the first day of the Garorock festival has been cancelled in the Lot-et-Garonne region – where temperatures could reach 42C.Getty ImagesClimate change is driving up temperatures around the world – but particularly in Europe. It is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe’s water supply, and more intense wildfires. Last year, more than 1 million hectares burnt across Europe – a record level – with Spain particularly affected.Although temperatures in Spain are set to peak at 38-39C in some areas on Thursday, forecasters say a cooler mass of Atlantic air is coming in, after the highest June temperatures were recorded this week, with 45.1C in the southern town of Andújar on Monday.Spain’s MoMo monitoring system for reporting temperature-related deaths has counted 213 fatalities between Sunday and Wednesday that could be linked to the heat, including 95 on Wednesday alone.Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP via Getty ImagesIn Germany, overnight temperatures in the southwestern town of Bad Bergzabern did not fall below 26.2C on Wednesday night, equalling a national heat record set in 2019. Germany’s DWD weather service said large areas of the country were experiencing “heat stress” and DWD meteorologist Oliver Reuter said it was “quite likely” the heatwave would ultimately be seen as historic.Luxembourg recorded its highest June temperature of 38.3C in Wormeldingen on Wednesday. A red alert level for “extreme thermal stress” has been extended in the grand duchy until Saturday night.In Germany, Hamburg’s half marathon has been cancel …
