Record-breaking heatwave across Europe
- Dogeon Lim
- Jul 7
- 1 min read
July 7, 2025
Dogeon Lim
Europe is in the grip of an unprecedented summer heatwave that is rewriting temperature records from Lisbon to Budapest. In Spain, thermometers have soared past 46 °C. In Italy, readings around 45 °C prompted authorities to suspend much outdoor labour in swathes of the country. France shuttered more than 1300 schools for fear classroom ceilings might actually melt, while Britain loggedits hottest June since Queen Victoria was on the throne.
Climatic scientists stress that these searing episodes are no longer rare deviations but a textbook symptom of a warming planet anddecades of accumulated greenhouse gases. Heatwaves are becoming more intense and more frequent, a speaker for the Europea Environment Agency said last week.
The toll on public health is already visible, hitting the very young, the elderly, and anyone obliged to work outside the hardest. Emergency departments in Madrid and Marseille report an upswing in heat exhaustion and severe dehydration, and municipalities from Amsterdam to Athens have quickly set up portable cooling hubs in town squares and bus stations.
Analysts warn that if Europe wishes to dodge even harsher summers, it must act at once. Revised heat alert systems, wider tree planting, and power grids designed for spikes in air conditioning demand are essential, yet so are political choices that steadily phase out fossil fuels.
In short, this blistering stretch of weather is no freak of nature. It isclimate change knocking at the door and signalling that every season may soon come with its own furnace.
