Europe braces for another intense summer heatwave as warnings spread across the continent

Much of Europe is facing another intense summer heatwave, with warnings already in place in parts of Britain and France and high temperatures forecast across several other countries. The latest spell is expected to push temperatures into the mid-30s Celsius in some areas, while dry conditions are also worsening fire risk in the south of the continent. The developing episode is affecting a wide stretch of Europe, from the British Isles to the Mediterranean and into central Europe.

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In the United Kingdom, the Met Office said the summer's fifth hot spell was about to take hold, with temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in places. It said the heat would spread north across much of the country, which has been built for a cooler climate. Half of England and all of Wales are already officially in drought, leaving 23 million people subject to hosepipe bans, and more English regions were expected to be declared in drought later in the day.

France's national weather agency said the south-east would see temperatures as high as 35C, with the intense heat spreading further across the country as the week progresses. It said the hottest conditions would affect almost the entire country between Wednesday and Friday. The agency also said future summers would generally be hotter than those experienced so far, linking the trend to climate change.

The heatwave is also adding pressure in countries already dealing with fire outbreaks. Greece reported its second fire of the season near Athens, prompting the deployment of hundreds of firefighters and equipment. In Spain, firefighters were struggling to contain a rapidly expanding blaze in the south-west that had forced the evacuation of about 800 people and more.

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More than 10,000 hectares of pine forest had already been burned by a separate fire northwest of Athens that began 10 days earlier. Weather warning system MeteoAlarm said scorching temperatures were already being felt across much of Italy and coastal areas of Croatia. Unusually high temperatures were also forecast in Switzerland, Austria and Hungary, countries that are not as accustomed to prolonged extreme heat.

The spread of warnings across such a broad area underlines how the current episode is affecting both southern Europe and parts of central and western Europe at the same time. The latest heatwave comes after a summer in which Europe has already seen record-low river levels, historic forest fires and thousands of deaths linked to extreme temperatures. The continent is widely regarded as the fastest-warming region on the planet because of human-caused climate change, and officials have repeatedly warned that future summers are likely to be hotter.

What remains unclear is how long the current heat will last, how severe the fire risk will become in the coming days, and whether drought restrictions will widen further as the week progresses.

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