Record temperatures and red alert in Western Europe

Already high temperatures will continue to rise on Friday in Western Europe, where this new heat wave has prompted authorities in several countries to issue a red alert.

In France, almost all regions are on heat alert. A new heat record was set on Tuesday in Bordeaux, with 41.2°C, and Météo France predicts temperatures not seen in more than 70 years on Thursday in Paris with 41°C. The current record dates back to 1947 with 40.4°C.

Belgium has triggered the red heat alert for the very first time.

As a result, the majority of the services of the city of Brussels will close at 13:00 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the municipality announced. And in West Flanders, the governor on Tuesday decreed a ban on smoking and burning in the natural areas of this maritime province in order to avoid fires.

Italy is also affected and the authorities have raised the alert to level 3 (« red bulletin ») in five cities for Wednesday, Bolzano, Brescia, Florence, Perugia and Turin.

The level 3 alert, the ministry explains, is triggered in the presence of « emergency conditions that may affect the health of active and healthy people, not just subgroups at risk such as the elderly, very young children and people with chronic diseases ».

Britain is not to be outdone and could have the hottest day in its history on Thursday: « We will probably beat the July heat record of 36.7°C, and there is even a possibility of beating the absolute record of 38.5°C, » says the British Met Office.

The Netherlands is also on « orange » alert, except for the northernmost islands, and in Germany, mercury will reach 41°C in the Cologne region in the coming days. Saarland is expected to beat the absolute record of 40.3°C set in 2015, according to the German weather agency DWD.

Finally, half of Switzerland is on heatwave orange alert and the national weather service forecasts « a significant thaw in high mountains » where the 0°C isotherm will be Wednesday at an unusually high altitude of 4,800 m, i. e. higher than the highest point in the country.