Western Europe faces even heavier temperatures on Tuesday as a severe heatwave sweeps across the north.
Extreme heat warnings were issued in France and Britain, while northern Spain recorded temperatures of 43C (109F) on Monday.
Deadly wildfires in France, Portugal, Spain, and Greece have forced thousands to flee their homes.
Britain is about to experience its hottest day on record and experts say parts of France are facing a ‘thermal apocalypse’.
Two people have been killed by forest fires in the Zamora region of northwestern Spain, and trains in the area have been brought to a halt by a fire near the tracks. An elderly couple has died trying to escape fires in northern Portugal.
Several regions of France experienced their hottest days ever when the western city of Nantes recorded 42C, the national weather office said.
Fires in recent days have forced more than 30,000 people to flee and temporary shelters have been set up for evacuees. Also among the evacuated areas was a zoo with 1,000 animals.
The Gironde, a popular tourist region in the southwest, has been particularly hard hit as firefighters across France struggled to control two blazes that destroyed 19,300 hectares of land over the past week. The city of Bordeaux was covered in smoke early Tuesday as the wind changed direction.
“The idea that comes to my mind is that he is a monster,” said Jean-Luc Gleyze, regional president of Gironde.
“It’s a monster like an octopus, and it grows and grows and grows in front, back, on both sides. Because of the temperature, the wind, the lack of water in the air … a monster, and it’s very difficult to fight. “.
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Temperatures, which hovered around 40 degrees on Monday, are expected to drop on Tuesday, but that may not bring immediate relief as long as drought conditions and varying winds persist. The hottest temperatures have now moved north and east. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes in the far northwest of Brittany and the fire has destroyed 1,400 hectares of vegetation.
Britain had one of its hottest days on record on Monday, with a high of 38.1C recorded in Suffolk, eastern England. Forecasters say temperatures above 40C could be reached on Tuesday, with extreme heat warnings in place for central, north, and southeast England.
There were severe travel disruptions as trains were canceled and flights suspended at London Luton Airport when part of the track buckled in the scorching heat. On Monday, the Netherlands recorded the hottest day of the year so far with 33.6 ° C, and Tuesday the temperature is expected to exceed 39 ° C in some areas.
Meteorologists say the heatwave is moving north, with the mercury expected to reach 40 ° C in the far south of Belgium, as well as in western and southwestern Germany. The German Weather Service DWD recorded a national record temperature of 41.2 ° C in the city of Duisburg in July 2019, and spokesman Andreas Friedrich said similar peaks would have been possible on Tuesday in similar areas along the Rhine River.
More than 1,000 people have been killed by the heat in Spain and Portugal in recent days. A firefighter was killed in a forest fire in Losacio, northwest on Sunday, and the body of a 69-year-old shepherd was found on Monday. Temperatures in Portugal hit 47 °C on Thursday, a record high for July. Most of the country has been placed at high risk of fire by the IPMA National Meteorological Agency.
Several villages were evacuated when a fire spread in the Murça area of northern Portugal, and a 70-year-old man and woman died in their car as they tried to escape the flames. Firefighters fought the blaze on three fronts, and a local mayor said more than 3,000 acres were burned. The authorities want to prevent 2017 from happening again when 66 people died in the fires.
