Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Tuesday, 01 July 2025
Large parts of Western Europe were in the grip of a severe heatwave on Monday, with temperatures breaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in Spain and wildfires breaking out in France.
Scientists said the extreme temperatures in the region - with Britain and the Netherlands among the countries affected - were related to a "heat dome" over continental Europe.
What is a heat dome?
A heat dome is an area of high-pressure air in the atmosphere which gets stuck in place over a region because atmospheric dynamics around it block it from moving.
It works like putting a lid on a boiling pot. The high-pressure system traps hot air below it, which heats up and compresses to form a "dome". This intensifies heat and prevents the formation of clouds, allowing even more radiation from the sun to reach the ground below.
A heat dome results in clear, sunny days, and still conditions with little cooling wind.
Situation all over Europe
Firefighters battled wildfires in Turkey and France on Monday and more than 50,000 people were evacuated as an early summer heatwave hit Europe.
Health alerts were issued in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany. Even the Netherlands, used to a milder climate, issued a warning for high temperatures in the coming days, coupled with high humidity.
"Large parts of Western Europe are experiencing extreme heat and heatwave conditions that are normally observed in July or August, rather than June," said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Temperatures were in some locations 5-10 degrees Celsius warmer than they otherwise should have been at this time of the year, she said.
In Turkey, wildfires raged for a second day in the western province of Izmir, fanned by strong winds, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said. More than 50,000 people have been evacuated from five regions, including more than 42,000 in Izmir, Turkey's AFAD emergency management authority said.
Turkey's coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists say is a result of human-induced climate change.
In France, where temperatures are expected to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday, wildfires broke out on Sunday in the southwestern Aude department, where temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), burning 400 hectares and forcing the evacuation of a campsite and an abbey, authorities said.
The fires were under control but not yet extinguished, authorities said on Monday. Weather service Meteo France put a record 84 of the country's 101 departments on an orange heatwave alert from Monday until midweek.
Is the wildfire linked to climate change?
Heat domes are not a new type of weather pattern. A specific attribution study would be needed to confirm in what ways the heat dome Western Europe is currently experiencing was specifically affected by climate change.
But scientists said the severity of the temperatures and the early timing of the current heatwave in Western Europe tally with how climate change is known to affect heatwaves.
Scientists have already confirmed that climate change is making heatwave events more intense, more frequent and more widespread.
Spain has likely just had its hottest June on record, according to national meteorological service AEMET, while the southeastern town of Mora in Portugal on Sunday set a new national record-high temperature for June, of 46.6 C.
In Germany too, heat warnings were in place across large parts of western and southwestern regions on Monday, where temperatures climbed to up to 34 C. Authorities appealed to consumers to limit their use of water.
The heatwave has lowered water levels on the Rhine River, hampering shipping and raising freight costs for cargo owners, commodity traders said. German and French baseload power prices for Tuesday surged as the heatwave led to increased demand for cooling.
Ill-effects of the heat
Heat can affect health in various ways, and experts are most concerned about older people and babies, as well as outdoor labourers and people struggling economically.
Globally, extreme heat kills up to 480,000 people annually, surpassing the combined toll from floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, and poses growing risks to infrastructure, the economy and healthcare systems, Swiss Re said earlier this month.
Scientists say the main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Last year was the planet's hottest on record.
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, heating up at twice the global average.
