Dangerous June heat wave envelops Western Europe – Germany sizzles in record June heat

By Dr. Jeff Masters
25 June 2019

(Weather Underground) – A ferociously hot airmass from the Sahara Desert has moved northward into Western Europe and will bring a dangerous heat wave unprecedented for June for the remainder of the week. All-time national heat records for June are likely to fall in multiple countries, and some nations may challenge all-time heat records set during the great heat wave of 2003, which killed over 70,000 people.

As of 11 am EDT Tuesday (5 pm local time in France), the temperature in Paris had soared to 32.4°C (90.5°F), making Tuesday the first of a string of five days likely to have high temperatures in excess of  90°F. The WU forecast for Paris calls for high temperatures of 93 – 98°F Wednesday through Saturday.

As of 11 am EDT Tuesday, Carpentras, France had recorded a high temperature of 38.4°C (101.1°F). This falls 3°C short of the highest fully reliable June temperature in France of 41.5°C (106.7°F) on June 21, 2003 at Lézignan-Corbières, according to Etienne Kapikian (Météo-France). Other June readings as high as 42.2°C are less reliable, Kapikian said. The June heat record for France is likely to fall on Wednesday or Thursday in southern portions of the nation.

Wildfire danger is predicted to steadily increase during week, reaching the “Extreme” level by the weekend over portions of France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, according the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. The European Union is already well above recent norms for hectares burned & number of fires ignited in 2019. [more]

Dangerous June Heat Wave Envelops Western Europe

The Latest: Germany sizzles in record June heat

BERLIN, 26 June 2019 (AP) — Germany’s meteorological agency says it has registered a new national temperature record for June as large parts of Europe are gripped by a heat wave.

The Deutscher Wetterdienst said Wednesday that a preliminary reading showed the mercury reached 38.6 degrees Celsius (101.5 Fahrenheit) in Coschen, near the Polish border, at 2.50 p.m. (1250 GMT).

That’s a tenth of a degree Celsius higher than the previous national record for June of 38.5 C (101.3 F) set in 1947 in southwestern Germany.

Paris is banning older cars for the day as a heat wave aggravates the city’s pollution.

Regional authorities estimate the measure put into place Wednesday affects nearly 60% of vehicles circulating in the Paris region, including many delivery trucks and older cars with higher emissions than newer models. Violators face fines.

Around France, some schools have been closed because of the high temperatures, which are expected to go up to 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) in the Paris area later this week and bake much of the country, from the Pyrenees in the southwest to the German border in the northeast.

Such temperatures are rare in France, where most homes and many buildings do not have air conditioning.

French charities and local officials are providing extra help for the elderly, the homeless and the sick this week, remembering that some 15,000 people, many of them elderly, died in France during a 2003 heat wave. [more]

The Latest: Germany sizzles in record June heat