Europe Heat Wave Brings Record Night Temperatures and Dozens of Deaths

France recorded its hottest night since 1947 at 70.9 degrees Fahrenheit on provisional figures released this week. Several towns also posted their highest daytime temperatures on record Monday. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 40 people had drowned in France between June 18 and Tuesday, linking the deaths to the heat.

Three elderly residents died near Bordeaux, and two children aged two and four were found dead in a hot car in southern France on Tuesday. The United Kingdom’s Met Office issued a rare red warning for extreme heat, forecasting that the June national record of 96.08 degrees Fahrenheit could be broken by as much as 6 degrees.

Hundreds of schools have closed or switched to half-day schedules, and authorities advised residents to avoid non-essential train travel.

Spain’s weather service AEMET reported temperatures above 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Andújar. Heat alerts were active across 23 European countries on Tuesday, with red-level warnings in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg. A broad area of stagnant high pressure is holding the heat in place.

Richard Allan, a climate science professor at the University of Reading, said the dome itself is typical for summer but the temperatures are not. Europe is heating at two to three times the global average rate, and air conditioning is present in roughly 20 percent of homes.

” Friederike Otto, a climate science professor at Imperial College London, said the extremes are driven by climate change rather than the emerging El Niño.

Liz Bentley, CEO of the Royal Meteorological Society, said the current El Niño is having little or no impact on this heat wave but could intensify conditions next summer. Thorne added that the next three months are expected to be abnormally warm across the continent.