Europe braces for another summer heatwave

Perry Hall Park in Birmingham, central England on August 10, 2026. [Paul Ellis, AFP]

Much of Europe is bracing for yet another heatwave following periods of scorching temperatures that have driven rivers to record lows, ignited historic forest fires and contributed to thousands of deaths.

Parts of Britain and France were already under extreme heat warnings on Monday, with forecasts of temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius.

Unusually high temperatures were also forecast in the coming days across a swathe of countries not accustomed to the heat, such as Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.

Europe's weather warning system MeteoAlarm on Monday said scorching temperatures are already being felt across much of Italy and coastal areas of Croatia.

Here's what to know as temperatures soar again across the continent, the fastest-warming on the planet due to human-caused climate change.

Intense heat

The United Kingdom's Met Office warned at the weekend that the summer's fifth hot spell was about to take hold in a country whose infrastructure has been built for a more temperate, cooler climate.

"Yet another spell of extremely hot weather is set to spread north across much of the UK with temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in places," it said on X on Sunday.

Half of England and the whole of Wales is already officially in drought -- leaving 23 million people subject to hosepipe bans -- with more English regions expected to be declared in drought later Monday.

Next to no rain was forecast for impacted areas this week.

In France, the national weather agency Meteo-France warned on Monday that the southeast would see temperatures as high as 35C, spreading further across the country as the week progresses.

"The intense heat will affect almost the entire country between Wednesday and Friday," it said in a bulletin.

The agency also warned that due to climate change, "future summers will generally be hotter than those experienced to date".

Both France and the UK have seen thousands of excess deaths during previous heatwaves this year.