Germany hits record 41.5C as heatwave pushes east across Europe

Germany’s heat crisis deepened on Saturday as the country logged a provisional all-time high of 41.5C in Drewitz, in the east, eclipsing the 41.3C record set just one day earlier in Saarbrucken. The German weather service issued extreme heat warnings for nearly all of the country and urged people to save water as the heatwave pushed east toward Poland.

The hot spell kept breaking local records across central and northern Europe. The Czech Republic reached 40.6C in Doksany, north of Prague, topping its previous national high of 40.4C from 2012 in Dobrichovice. Denmark reached 37C in Odum, north of Aarhus, and the Danish Meteorological Institute recorded it as the country’s warmest day on record since measurements began in 1874.

France logged deaths linked to the heat, while rail travel, power generation, schools and outdoor events were disrupted in parts of Europe. Italy placed 18 cities, including Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice, Genoa, Florence and Bologna, under red heat alerts.

Germany’s new record comes as Europe endures a second major heatwave in just two months. The continent is warming at about 0.56C per decade since the mid-1990s, more than twice the global average, and only about 20 percent of European homes have air conditioning, leaving large parts of the built environment poorly prepared for prolonged extreme heat. Laurie Parsons of Royal Holloway, University of London, warned earlier in the week, “People should be very concerned.”

World Weather Attribution found the extreme June temperatures would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, and Reuters analysis found the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. Reuters analysis found night-time temperatures have become 100 times more likely than they were two decades ago.