Western Europe is preparing for another extreme heat wave, with Britain, France, Spain, Switzerland and Germany all raising alerts as temperatures are expected to keep climbing in the coming days. AFP reported warnings in those countries, as well as in several cities in northern and central Italy.
France is at the center of the current hot spell. Hundreds of schools there have had to adjust schedules to cope with the heat, and forecasters warned of an "intense and prolonged" heat wave. They said Paris could rise above 40 degrees Celsius for the first time in June. France has already recorded its hottest spring since measurements began in 1900.
The United Kingdom is also on alert. Alex Deakin of the British Met Office said, "We are seeing more temperature extremes, we are breaking records more often," adding, "When heat spells come, they are much hotter. And when rain spells come, they are much wetter." The Met Office said there is a 40 percent chance of the UK's June daily heat record, set in 1976, being broken. Meteorologists also confirmed that England and Wales have already had their warmest spring on record, though temperatures in Britain are not expected to be as extreme as on the continent.
Elsewhere, the Swiss town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland recorded 35.7 degrees Celsius on Friday, a local June heat record. In Germany, authorities warned over the weekend of thunderstorms, hail and heavy rain in parts of the country. In Spain, civil protection officials warned of a prolonged stretch of extreme heat starting Sunday and lasting through much of next week, affecting most of the country and the Balearic Islands. Scientists say human-driven climate change is making such extremes more frequent and more intense, increasing the severity of heat waves, droughts and floods.
