MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Western Europe breaks heat records in mid-spring with deaths in United Kingdom and France

The episode is part of a trend of extreme events that the scientific community links directly to human-driven climate change

Several Western European countries this week broke historic temperature records for the boreal spring, in a heat wave described as “unprecedented” by national weather services in the United Kingdom and France, which has caused at least ten deaths and stretched the continent's health services. The episode is part of a trend of extreme events that the scientific community links directly to human-driven climate change, according to a study published on Tuesday that concluded that the temperature spikes “are primarily attributed to human driven climate change.”

The United Kingdom recorded 35.1 degrees Celsius on Tuesday at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in west London, after 34.8 degrees registered on Monday at the same station. The figure represents the absolute record for British meteorological spring —covering March to May— and surpassed the previous mark of 32.8 degrees, recorded in London in 1922 and later equaled in 1944. The British Meteorological Office described the episode as “unprecedented for the time of year.” By Tuesday, the majority of England and Wales were officially under heat wave conditions, and the UK Health Security Agency activated an amber-level health alert, the second-highest tier, with specific warnings about mortality among older adults.

In France, the national weather service reported that several regions of the western part of the country exceeded their May temperature records on Monday. Weekend temperatures stood as much as thirteen degrees Celsius above seasonal averages, in an episode described as “remarkable for its intensity, its prolonged character, and its early appearance.” French government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon confirmed to the TF1 channel that seven people had died in circumstances linked to the wave since Saturday, including five drownings. In the United Kingdom, police authorities reported the drowning deaths of three teenagers in separate incidents. At the French Open tennis tournament, spectators resorted to water misting systems to mitigate the heat in the stands.

Spain, a country accustomed to severe summer temperatures, is also going through an early wave that forecasts highs of up to forty degrees in the southwest of the peninsula in the coming days. In Madrid and Valladolid, outdoor cafés sat empty at midday, an image normally reserved for the peak of summer. The elevated temperatures arrive after an abnormally warm 2025 in the continent. The average maximum temperature for May in the United Kingdom historically sits at around fifteen degrees Celsius. A large share of British households lack air conditioning, a characteristic feature of the housing stock in a country where prolonged episodes of extreme heat have historically been exceptional.