Record heat shifts east as Central Europe braces for swelter

Germany reached 41.5 C on June 27, 2026, its highest temperature on record, as train cancellations and highway damage marked the latest edge of a heatwave moving into Central Europe. Authorities in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Denmark also logged all-time or June temperature highs.

The widespread late-June heatwave shattered numerous temperature records across Europe, with conditions more typical of late July and August, the World Meteorological Organization said. Much of Germany and Poland were under extreme heat warnings. The same weather pattern had major impacts on human health, ecosystems, agriculture, infrastructure and labour productivity.

Dozens of deaths in Western Europe were recorded. Spain’s monitoring agency estimated 212 heat-related deaths since Sunday, and Italy recorded five heat-related deaths this week. Heat-health action plans were being mobilized for millions of people across Europe, the United Nations said, as national weather services warned that the most dangerous stretch of the heat was not over.

A scientific analysis found the record-breaking heatwave over Western Europe would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. It also found that the hot nighttime temperatures were about 100 times more likely than they would have been two decades ago, a shift that makes recovery harder for vulnerable people and leaves less time for homes, hospitals and transit systems to cool down before the next day of extreme heat begins.