UK registers record-breaking June heat amid rising health crises across Europe

The United Kingdom recorded its highest-ever June temperature on Thursday, as sweltering conditions intensified by climate change were linked to the death of a third toddler in France and a surge in medical emergencies across Europe.

The UK’s newly provisional high of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) — recorded in Yeovilton, Somerset — exceeded Wednesday’s June record of 36.1 °C in Gosport, Hampshire, surpassing the previous peak of 35.6 °C set in Southampton in 1976.

Earlier on Thursday, the Met Office — the United Kingdom’s meteorological service — reported that a warm night in Cardiff broke another national heat record. Temperatures failed to drop below 23.5 °C in the Welsh capital, marking the highest June minimum temperature on record.

The sweltering temperatures spread across much of western Europe, with at least 101 million people expected to endure temperatures above 35 °C on Thursday, according to the Agence France‑Presse.

In France, where three‑quarters of the nation remained under an extreme heat alert, the national meteorological agency recorded the country’s hottest night since observations began in 1947, as overnight temperatures from Wednesday to Thursday broke a record set earlier in the week.

Public prosecutors attributed the boy’s death to heat exposure after he became trapped in his family’s car in a suburb of Paris. Officials indicated that the child was believed to be napping but had climbed into the vehicle and could not exit when the child‑lock mechanism engaged.

Earlier in the week, the extreme temperatures in France were linked to the deaths of two other young children, and the country’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, reported that at least 40 people — many of them young — had drowned in unsupervised swimming areas.

For days, officials throughout France have scrambled to cope with the searing heat: shutting down three nuclear reactors as cooling waters grew too warm, opening gardens and parks in Paris for residents whose homes overheated, and adapting school buildings for the hundreds of thousands of teenagers sitting national examinations.

Heatwaves are now more severe and more likely due to carbon pollution from fossil‑fuel combustion, with scientists estimating that the current extreme temperatures across Europe are about 2 °C to 4 °C higher as a result.

Many thousands of people are likely to have died prematurely from the heat, though statistical analysis takes time to confirm. The UK Health Security Agency determined that more than 10,000 people in Britain died from summer heatwaves between 2020 and 2024.

The UKHSA extended its red heat‑health alert by 24 hours to 11 p.m. on Friday; it is the second red alert ever issued by the agency. The Met Office also prolonged its red alert for southeast England until 9 p.m. on Friday. Rising global heat is now responsible for one death per minute worldwide, health experts reported in October.

‘Extreme heat will continue to intensify, and other climate impacts — such as megadroughts, floods, wildfires and storms — will increasingly strain economies and populations worldwide,’ said Stiell. ‘However, the solutions are clear: accelerating the transition to renewables — now more affordable than fossil fuels — and safeguarding forests. There can be no delay.’

‘Europe’s savage heatwave reflects the cost of fossil‑fuel pollution baking our planet,’ said Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief. ‘Schools are closing, the vulnerable are dying, economies are straining — this is the reality of the climate crisis, and it is only beginning.’ Global heating will not cease until carbon emissions reach net zero, yet emissions rose again in 2025.

‘Extreme heat will continue to intensify, and other climate impacts — from megadroughts to floods, wildfires and storms — will increasingly burden economies and populations,’ said Stiell. ‘But the solutions are clear: accelerating the transition to renewables — now cheaper than fossil fuels — and protecting forests. There is no time to lose.’

The UK parliament overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to establish a legally binding target of an 87 % emissions cut by 2040. This target was recommended by the government’s official adviser, the Climate Change Committee, which noted in May that the nation’s infrastructure had been built for a climate that no longer exists and urgently required upgrades to safeguard the public from climate change.

Numerous schools have closed and rail services have been suspended during this week’s UK heatwave, which has been exacerbated by high humidity, making conditions even more hazardous and uncomfortable.

Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, unveiled the city’s inaugural heat‑action plan on Thursday, stating, ‘Extreme temperatures are no longer a future threat; they are an immediate danger.’ The plan proposes retrofitting high‑risk homes to reduce overheating, expanding tree canopy, and ensuring safe access to water for recreation and swimming. A 2025 study revealed that the proportion of UK households reporting summer overheating had quadrupled to 80 % over the past decade.

Measurements conducted by Greenpeace detected surface temperatures across London — including pavements, rail platforms, construction sites, and other surfaces — ranging from 50 °C to 60 °C on Wednesday. A black rubber playground floor in Islington registered 53 °C at 5 p.m.

‘This record‑breaking heatwave has turned London into a sticky, sizzling cauldron,’ said Mel Evans, head of climate at Greenpeace UK. ‘This is not merely weather; it is a public‑health emergency fueled by fossil‑fuel corporations. These abnormal temperatures are pushing homes, schools, transport systems, and our health to the brink.’

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