Red extreme heat warning extended to Friday evening for London and south-east England

The alert covers the period when daytime temperatures are forecast to remain above 30C and nighttime lows are not expected to fall below 18C.

Germany sees record temperatures Meteorologist Oliver Reuter from the German Weather Service’s Forecast Centre in Offenbach told the German Press Agency that the heatwave is “quite likely” to be described as historic. Reuter said the previous German June record is expected to be significantly surpassed and that peak temperatures above 40C or 41C have never before occurred across so many places on three consecutive days.

Effects on events and animals In Hamburg, a half marathon scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled because of the heat. A zoo in western Germany took its alpacas to a nearby lake to cool off. In neighbouring Austria, forecasters said temperatures could reach 40C in Vienna over the weekend.