Climate change

Europe Shatters Temperature Records Amid Deadly Heatwave

Is this proof of climate negligence or just alarmism over normal weather patterns?

Published JUN 25

Europe Shatters Temperature Records Amid Deadly Heatwave

Story

Above: Two women use fans on a tube train in London on June 24. Image credit: Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty Images

The Facts

Temperature records have been shattered across Europe by heatwaves this week. France recorded its hottest day since records began in 1947, with the national average temperature — which combines day and night readings — reaching 30°C on Wednesday. This broke a record set only a day earlier.
DIE WELT
BBC News
At least 40 people have drowned in France in heatwave-related incidents since June 18. With temperatures reportedly exceeding 42°C in parts of the country, nearly 40 million people have been affected by emergency measures addressing the heat.
BBC News
Libero Italy
Earth.Org
The U.K., also on Wednesday, logged its hottest June day on record when temperatures reached 36.1°C in Gosport, Hampshire, surpassing the previous record of 35.6°C set in Southampton in 1976. Hundreds of schools closed or shortened their work hours to cope with high temperatures.
RTE.ie
The Telegraph
This comes after Spain recorded its highest daily average June temperatures since 1950, reaching 28.08°C on Monday and 28.17°C on Tuesday. Red alerts remained in place for parts of the Basque country into the rest of the week, where highs of 42°C have been forecast.
DIE WELT
Guardian
Italy placed 16 cities — including Rome, Milan and Florence — under its highest heat alert, while Germany reported multiple drowning deaths and issued drought warnings in Brandenburg, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia.
RTE.ie
Bild
Atmospheric physicist Lorenzo Giovannini of the University of Trento noted that Europe is currently experiencing conditions comparable to the 2003 heatwave that caused an estimated 80,000 excess deaths.
Le Monde
Il Fatto Quotidiano

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The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Europe's deadly heatwave is a direct consequence of fossil fuel addiction, and the science is unambiguous. The continent is warming twice as fast as the global average, with Europeans paying the price, as over 200,000 have died from heat-related causes since 2022. Refusing to act on climate change is killing people and action must be taken.

Peter D Carter on X

Truthout

Climate-skeptic narrative

Citing a single week of hot weather to make a rhetorical statement about climate change is unjustified and illogical. Europe has seen brutal heatwaves before — 1976 being a prime example — and people managed without mass panic or government hysteria. This is nothing out of the ordinary in the context of medium to long-term weather patterns.