Late June Heatwave Breaks Temperature Records Across Northern and Western Europe

A heatwave gripped the UK and much of northern, western and central Europe in late June 2026, breaking multiple temperature records. The UK surpassed June highs that had stood since 1976, while France recorded its hottest day ever. The World Weather Attribution group determined the event was the most severe heatwave ever recorded across the region.

Daytime highs and overnight temperatures would have been virtually impossible under 1976 climate conditions, with a similar event then running 3.5 °C cooler. Sweltering overnight temperatures observed this month are about 100 times more likely than during the 2003 European heatwave, the group said.

Forty-five percent of 854 cities across 30 European countries broke or were expected to break their wet-bulb globe temperature records.

For the UK and Ireland, heat-stress records were broken in more than half the cities analysed. The heat is driven by a blocked high-pressure pattern known as a heat dome that traps hot air over Europe and draws warm air from the Sahara. Scientists analysed the hottest three-day period using observed and forecast temperature data.

Dr Theodore Keeping of Imperial College London said continued fossil fuel emissions are directly responsible for the disruption people are experiencing this week in their homes, schools and workplaces. Professor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said the event is climate change caused by human activity, not El Niño, and that solutions exist but are not being implemented fast enough.

UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell said extreme heat is shattering records across Europe because of the world’s addiction to burning coal, oil and gas, while solutions such as a faster shift to clean energy are available.