It was heavily warned in several countries, but that didn't prevent the current heat wave in Europe to hit hard yesterday and today. If a few hours earlier we learned that the Met Office in the UK had issued its extreme heat warning, now it is official that three people have died in France as temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius in regions unused to those figures (basically anything north of south Europe).
The three elderly persons passed away in the Bordeaux region, while parts of southwestern France also expect to exceed the 42ºC mark as many regions remain under red heatwave warnings. As such, school, work, and public services are being disrupted at the start of the week, with 2,700 French schools closing or reducing classes.
Spain, way more used to these temperatures, is seeing how they reach greener, fresher areas for the first time in decades, therefore issuing red alerts in regions such as the Basque Country. Near San Sebastián is forecast to reach around 40ºC, which is hotter than usual suspects Seville and Cordoba. As we've been reporting, parts of Britain could as well break their June temperature record this week.
Reuters Climate Monitor points out that Europe's average high is 4.1º above the 1961-1990 norm, with little relief overnight in parts of Spain such as central Castilla-La Mancha.