France hits record-breaking June heat as rising temperatures put the UK and elsewhere in Europe under alert, with tens of millions affected
Europe braced for more of an unprecedented heatwave that has smashed records in many countries and sent air-conditioner sales zooming in a continent unused and ill-equipped to handle searing heat.
At least 94 million people in Europe were expected to experience temperatures over 35°C on Wednesday, most of them in France and Spain, according to Agence France-Presse calculations.
Maximum temperatures were expected to surpass 30°C for more than 350 million people across Europe, representing nearly two-thirds of the population, according to an analysis based on forecasts from the German weather service and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre.
French nuclear output was reduced by 4.1 gigawatts on Wednesday, or seven per cent of total power demand at midday, as high temperatures across the country reduced access to cooling water, data from French utility EDF showed.
The extreme weather was being driven by atmospheric and circulation patterns that keep hot air trapped in place for days, causing the mercury to slowly rise, with these factors exacerbated by global warming, experts say.
France’s national temperature indicator – an average of daytime and nighttime temperatures across 30 stations – reached 29.8 degrees on Tuesday, the hottest since measurements began in 1947.