Relentless, deadly heat is tightening its grip on Europe, with temperature records expected to not just fall but be obliterated this week. Scientists warn this extreme heat is a huge problem for Europe and a wake up call to a new reality.Europe is the planet’s fastest-warming continent, heating at around two to three times the global average, yet it’s woefully underprepared. Its infrastructure was not built for extreme heat; when temperatures spike, rail tracks buckle, power cables break, homes turn into heat traps, and thousands die.This week is yet another brutal reminder that European heat is becoming both more severe and more frequent. It marks the second record-breaking heat wave in two straight months, with the potential for national all-time temperature records to be broken before Europe even reaches July, typically its hottest month.AdvertisementAdvertisement“This isn’t the new norm at all; this is the foothills of absolute catastrophe,” said Hugh Montgomery, professor of intensive care medicine at University College London.☀️ Explore CNN Weather for iPhoneFrance, the current epicenter of extreme heat, just posted its hottest day on record. The average national temperature reached 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a record last reached in 2019, according to provisional figures from Météo-France. One town saw temperatures of over 111 degrees Fahrenheit.The heat has quickly turned deadly. France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced Tuesday that 40 people had drowned since June 18, linking the drownings to soaring temperatures and calling them a “grim scourge.” Three elderly people also lost their lives in the heat near Bordeaux, and two children aged two and four were found dead in a hot car in southern France Tuesday.A man sits on a camp bed at an emergency heatwave relief centre opened by the city of Bordeaux as France experiences a heatwave, on June 22, 2026. – Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty ImagesIn the United Kingdom, temperatures are set to soar into the triple digits this week, with the UK Met Office issuing an very rare red warning for extreme heat, indicating a risk to life.AdvertisementAdvertisementHundreds of schools are closing or moving to half days, people have been told to avoid train journeys, and the Met Office has warned of severe impacts on energy and water. London is “cooking,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres, addressing an audience at London Climate week Tuesday.The country’s June temperature record of 96.08 degrees Fahrenheit looks all but certain to be smashed by as much as 6 degrees this week.“Obliterating records by several degrees is utterly insane,” said Peter Thorne, director of ICARUS Climate Research Centre at Maynooth University, Ireland.Westminster Bridge in London, on June 23. The UK is set to bake in record-breaking temperatures amid rare red warnings over extreme temperatures. – Ben Whitley/PAIn Spain, temperatures exceeded 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Andújar, a municipality in the south of the country, according to the weather service AEMET. Nearly the whole country was under a heat alert Tuesday.AdvertisementAdvertisementHeat alerts are in place for 23 countries in Europe Tuesday, with five at the most severe red level: Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg.What is causing the heat?The soaring temperatures are caused by a heat dome — a vast area of stagnant high pressure parked over swaths of Europe, which acts like a lid on a pot, stubbornly trapping heat.The heat dome is not unusual for Europe in summer, “but the temperatures are,” said Richard Allan, a climate science professor at the University of …
