France, the country most affected by the most severe and widespread heatwave to hit Europe, ended the red alert on Monday with a provisional toll of at least a thousand "additional" or "excessive" deaths. In the United Kingdom, where red alerts were issued for the first time for three consecutive days and a temperature of 37.3 degrees was recorded in Santon Downham on Friday, the highest June temperature ever in the country, the heat also began to subside over the weekend, and they expect to declare the heatwave over in the coming hours. According to the British Meteorological Office (Met Office), a gradual decrease in temperatures is expected to return to normal levels for this time of year.
However, still on Monday, around 130 million Europeans are exposed to temperatures above 35 degrees.
From the United Kingdom to Albania, passing through the Netherlands and Denmark, the extreme temperatures sustained over several days have pushed the healthcare systems and infrastructures of countries unaccustomed to such intense heat, even in the summer months, to their limits.
The meteorological explanation for this episode was the formation of a "heat dome" due to the influx of warm air from the Sahara. A phenomenon that caused temperatures to rise between five and 12 degrees higher than usual for this time of year.
The heatwave that swept across the continent in June has sparked a debate about the lack of preparedness of Central European countries for these episodes, which, according to climate scientists, "are exceptional" but will become more intense and frequent. In fact, according to an analysis by scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA), "an event of this magnitude in June would not have been possible without climate change."
The entry of this very warm air mass led to temperature records being broken in the Netherlands, Belgium, northern Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Switzerland (where 38.8 degrees were recorded in Basel), or the Czech Republic (the town of Doksany recorded 40.8 degrees). Three-quarters of France were under red alert, and temperatures exceeded 43 degrees in several areas, with Paris reaching 41 degrees amid a critical situation in hospitals and morgues.
Even the Nordic countries, known for mild summers, experienced very high temperatures. The Danish Meteorological Institute reported a new record of 37 degrees Celsius in Ødum, north of Aarhus, the hottest day since records began in 1874.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that the extreme heat that hit Europe (with temperature records close to 40 degrees in Germany, Poland, and Hungary) may have claimed over 1,300 lives. In Spain, it is estimated that 327 deaths may have been caused by the heat, according to the Carlos III Health Institute.
The highest provisional number of deaths due to the effects of the heat, at least a thousand deaths, corresponds to France. The French public health agency warned that the mortality rate will likely be higher than initial estimates, noting that electronic records did not account for elderly people who died at home or in care facilities. Météo France warned ten days ago that the first heatwave of this summer in the middle of June could be as deadly as the one in August 2003, which claimed 14,800 lives.
In addition to the increase in deaths from drowning, as many citizens opted to cool off in beaches, rivers, and lakes. In the United Kingdom, there were six deaths from this cause, adding to another 15 drownings, mostly of young minors, during the heatwave in May. In France, 55 people died by drowning in rivers and unsupervised swimming areas while trying to combat the heat. Furthermore, four children died inside cars due to high temperatures.
With summer just beginning, and after the devastating consequences of this episode, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a new emergency inter-ministerial cabinet on Monday to assess the situation, amid criticism for the lack of preparedness and delayed response from the government, which ended up ordering the closure of over 3,000 schools and sending 30,000 air conditioning units to hospitals. The data on the thousand "additional" deaths, compared to the usual average for this time of year, have fueled political debate on the country's lack of preparedness to face extreme heat.
The lack of adaptation to extreme heat was evident in the need to cancel hundreds of trains and even to force the shutdown of two nuclear power plants (Nogent-sur-Seine and Golfech) due to the high water temperatures in the rivers used to cool the reactors. "We have learned a lot since 2003, the coordination of services has been much better, and we have put additional resources on the table," said government spokesperson Maud Bregeon. "We are in favor of air conditioning where necessary: in hospitals, maternity wards, schools."
Shedding light on the human cost will be necessary to determine the political responsibilities that have led to this situation," stated Marine Tondelier, leader of The Ecologists. "It is hateful and unforgivable what has happened, knowing that most of these deaths could have been prevented with years of work," warned Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a member of the National Rally party, who has called for the implementation of a ¤20 billion "national climate adaptation program" to prepare the country for high temperatures.
French President Emmanuel Macron admitted last week that it must be acknowledged "with humility" that the work of adaptation in cities, public buildings, and infrastructure "is not yet complete." Eight out of ten French citizens support the "generalization" of air conditioning, which currently reaches only about 25% of households (compared to 60% in Spain), with significant deficiencies in hospitals, schools, and public transportation.
The use of air conditioning is also not widespread in Central European countries like Germany, where the heatwave also exposed their lack of preparedness for such episodes. Their federal highway system, Autobahn, was overwhelmed by temperatures around 40 degrees. In two locations outside Berlin, the highway surface cracked due to the heat and had to be closed. Other road damages were also reported throughout the country, according to the German newspaper Bild.
The railway operator Deutsche Bahn and other train companies advised against all non-essential train travel over the weekend, while in the city of Dormagen, in western Germany, dozens of residents of a nursing home were evacuated for medical attention due to the dangerous heat conditions inside the building.
Relief in Spain until the weekend
Regarding Spain, after a weekend marked by a slight drop in temperatures and storms in the northeast of the country, temperatures are expected to gradually increase again until becoming high to very high next Saturday and Sunday, depending on the region.
In the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, areas of Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha will reach 38-40 degrees during the first days of this week, while the Mediterranean region will experience around 30 degrees, and the Cantabrian region will enjoy mild temperatures of about 20-30 degrees.
It is from Friday when a new general rise in temperatures is likely to begin, continuing in the following days and leading to another episode of very high temperatures, both maximum and minimum, across most of the country. With the current information available, Aemet spokesperson Rubén del Campo has indicated that temperatures above 36ºC will be widespread on the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, reaching 40 to 42ºC in the Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir valleys, with minimums of 22 to 24ºC in the Mediterranean, central, and southern regions.
"We will talk more about this episode later, and we will also be able to specify whether it ends up becoming a heatwave or not because it is still too early to determine," Del Campo stated.