Kathryn Armstrong
BBC News
See: Weather Forecast for the Overall Europe
As a country, record numbers of heat warnings are in place across France, with other parts of Southern Europe and Eastern Europe remaining in high-temperature grips.
Of the 96 in the mainland region of France, 84 are known as the sector, but are currently under an orange alert. French Climate Minister Agnaise Pannier Ranker calls it an “unprecedented” situation.
Heat warnings are also in place in some Balkan countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the UK and Croatia.
Spain and Portugal recorded the hottest June days over the weekend.
El Granado in Andalusia saw a temperature of 46C on Saturday, but 46.6C was recorded on Sunday in the town of Mora, Central Portugal.
Many countries provide emergency medical services while waiting, warning people to stay inside as much as possible.
Nearly 200 schools across France have been closed or partially closed. This holds a portion of Europe for over a week, but is expected to peak mid-week.
Education Minister Elizabeth Bourne said she is working with local authorities in the best way to ensure that she can see school children and keep their children home.
Several bushfires broke out in the southern mountain range of Corbière on Sunday, leading to evacuation and highway closures. They have since been contained, fire officials told French media on Monday.
Meanwhile, 21 Italian cities, like Sardinia, are at the highest alerts, including Rome, Milan and Venice.
Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Association of Emergency Medicine, told AFP News Agency that emergency departments of hospitals across the country have reported a 10% increase in heat stroke cases.
Some parts of the UK can see one of the hottest June days of all time on Monday, with temperatures above 34C in parts of England.
Many in Spain continue to receive heat warnings to mark the hottest June record on the course.
“I don’t sleep well, I have insomnia, I also have fever strokes. I stopped eating and can’t concentrate,” 21-year-old Annabelle Sanchez told Seville’s Reuters news agency.
The same situation is true in Portugal, with seven districts, including the capital, Lisbon, at the highest alert levels.
Meanwhile, German weather services have warned that temperatures could reach nearly 38C on Tuesday and Wednesday.
EPA
Several thermal records have been broken recently
The Balkan countries are also suffering from intense heat, but temperatures are beginning to cool slightly.
In Türkiye, firefighters continue their efforts to launch hundreds of wildfires that have recently erupted.
The fire in Sefelihisar district, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the resort city of Izmir, has been fueled by the wind, already destroying 20 homes, and some residential areas had to be evacuated.
Wildfires have also been occurring in Croatia, where serious heat warnings have been issued in coastal areas.
Temperatures in Greece have been approaching 40°C for several days, and last week a coastal town near Athens broke out with flames that destroyed homes, evacuating people.
On Wednesday, Serbia reported the hottest day since the record began, but on Thursday it recorded a record 38.8C in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Slovenia recorded June’s hottest June temperatures on Saturday.
Temperatures in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, reached 42C on Friday and are expected to continue in that range.
Heat waves are a potential health problem, but they also affect the climate. Higher temperatures in the Adriatic Sea promote invasive species such as toxic lionfish, causing even more stress on alpine glaciers, which are already shrinking at record rates.
While it is difficult to link individual extreme weather events to climate change, climate is becoming more common and intense due to climate change.
