Europe heat wave intensifies as fresh warnings issued – DW – 07/02/2025

Some 48 passengers had to be rescued from a train in the town of Elsfleth in northern Germany on Tuesday evening after it became stuck on a rail bridge.

The train was forced to make the unplanned stop due to a technical fault, which also caused the air conditioning to work at limited capacity.

As the carriages became hotter and hotter, the passengers called the local emergency rescue services, who were able to extract them from the bridge.

State police and ambulances rushed to the site to attend to the passengers and crew. Two teenage passengers had to be taken to a local hospital but no one was seriously hurt.

A wildfire that broke out in Spain’s Catalonia region due to the extreme heat and dryness has killed at least two people, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

The blaze began in Torrefeta on Tuesday afternoon, and has destroyed large swaths of farmland.

“The fire was extremely violent and erratic due to storms and strong winds, generating a convection cloud that complicated extinguishing efforts,” the local fire department said in a statement.

Some 14,000 residents had been warned to stay inside there homes. However, the blaze was largely contained by Wednesday and the area was awaiting thunderstorms that were expected to further extinguish the fire.

Meteorologists in France and Germany have predicted that the continent’s deadly heatwave will likely break overnight on Wednesday, as rain and thunderstorms roll in from the Atlantic.

“Our latest forecasts confirm the arrival of cooling from the west on Wednesday, which will quickly affect the northwest of the country,” Meteo-France said, calling for thunderstorms near the German border.

Germany’s national weather service (DWD), said that while the mercury could hit 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country on Wednesday, the average was expected to fall to 27 by Thursday.

In Spain and Italy, which have seen the most extreme temperatures at up to 46 degrees Celsius or 114 Fahrenheit, the weather is expected to cool by the weekend.

French scientists have said that June 2025 was the second-hottest for the country since it began keeping records in 1900.

“June 2025 has become the second hottest June since records began in 1900, behind June 2003,” French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said on Wednesday morning.

Later on Wednesday, Pannier-Runacher said that “more than 300 people have been taken into emergency care, and two have died as a result of heat-related illnesses,” in the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron has attempted to enact climate protections, such as banning domestic flights, to varying degrees of sucess. However, some initiatives have resulted in major discontent from voters, including a fuel tax that led to the Yellow Vest protests that lasted from 2018 to 2020.

Teresa Ribera, who heads up the European Commission’s green transition team, has accused the bloc’s political leaders of being too scared to address climate change as life-threatening temperatures cripple Europe.

Speaking with the British newspaper The Guardian, she said that Wednesday’s forecast showed “absolutely terrible temperatures that have a very serious impact on ecosystems, on the economy and on health. And I think that there hasn’t yet been a real shift from the headlines about extreme meteorological phenomena to preparing people and understanding what needs to be done in the case of certain events.”

In light of this, she said she could not understand why many major political parties “continue to insist, quite vehemently, that climate change does not exist.”

Ribera said she believes that fear of how much it will cost — politically and financially — to address the climate emergency is driving much of the inaction, but warned that allowing climate breakdown will be much more costly in the long run.

National weather services across central and northern Europe have issued warnings over excessive heat in many of the continent’s largest cities, according to aggregator MeteoAlarm.

Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Paris, and Budapest are all expected to see temperatures of at least 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Drink water several times a day. Continue to eat normally. Wet your body several times a day using a spray, a washcloth or by taking warm showers or baths,” read a warning issued by France’s meteorological service. “Do not go out during the hottest hours.”

Europe continues to suffer under a brutal early summer heatwave on Wednesday, with temperatures in southern Spain expected to read 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Further north in Paris, temperatures are expected to drop slightly, but still hover around 35 degrees Celsius. 

Meteorologists predict that rain and thunderstorms overnight should break the heat in many places by Thursday.

Schools remained closed in many cities, including in Italy and France, due to the weather — intensifying debate as to whether the school year needs to be adjusted to reflect the changing climate.

The heat has also affected cultural events and sports, with the Wimbledon tennis tournament in the UK, which continues on Wednesday, recording its highest-ever temperatures.

The German Weather Service (DWD) recorded the highest temperature of the year so far — 37.8 degrees Celsius (100.04 degrees Fahrenheit) — on Tuesday evening in Kitzingen, Bavaria.

The record, however, isn’t expected to last long as it could be surpassed on Wednesday, with temperatures expected to get even hotter.

“Then the peak will be reached, and it is quite possible that we will locally reach around 40 degrees,” a DWD spokesperson told the DPA news agency. That’s 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

From Thursday, it is expected to cool down slightly.

The all-time heat record for Germany was recorded on July 25, 2019, when 41.2 degrees was registered at the DWD weather stations in Tönisvorst and Duisburg-Baerl, both in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Several Italian cities, including Florence and Bergamo, were hit with power outages on Tuesday amid a blazing summer heat wave.

The power grid was also overloaded near Milan.

The outages affected private homes as well as businesses and even traffic on the streets as traffic lights stopped working in some places.

Energy supplier Enel said it was working to restore power. The outages could be “related to the heat, which led to overheating and expansion of the power cables,” the company said.

Italy has been experiencing sizzling heat for days, with heat alerts having been issued in over a dozen cities, including Rome.

This June, many parts of Europe sweltered under the highest temperatures ever recorded for the summer month. Scientists say these extreme conditions are caused by a familiar weather pattern exacerbated by global warming.

The Atomium, one of Brussels’ top tourist draws, is closing early on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the heat wave, the monument’s management said on its website.

The landmark features nine stainless steel spheres linked by narrow steel tubes, forming a giant cube balanced on its tip.

Inside, the spheres hold exhibitions and a restaurant, with visitors moving between them by stairs and escalators.

German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has called climate change the biggest social issue of the 21st century as Europe — including Germany — struggles through a heat wave.

“If one considers that the richest 1% of the global population causes as much in greenhouse gas emissions as the poorest two-thirds taken together, this poses serious questions of distribution,” Schneider said.

He argued the heat was exposing social inequality. “People with less money are able to protect themselves less well against the consequences of heat. Poor people more frequently live on busy roads and in densely built homes where heat builds up,” the minister said, noting that those with money can afford air-conditioning or cooling gardens.

Schneider said the federal government was supporting local authorities and social institutions with advice and funding to expand cooling measures. He said €73.5 million ($86.5 million) had been approved for almost 500 projects since 2020, with at least €11.5 million available for this year and next.

The world will have to live with heat waves, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

The United Nation’s weather and climate agency has said that heat waves could occur more often and be more intense.

 “As a result of human-induced climate change, extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense. It’s something we have to learn to live with,” said WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis.

The heat wave in Europe is the result of a strong high pressure system which is trapping hot air from Northern Africa. 

WMO said early warnings and action plans are crucial in protecting the public. Organizations such as the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) are ready to help people across the continent. 

“Volunteers are giving out water and checking on the most vulnerable populations, including people experiencing homelessness, older people, and outdoor workers,” IFRC spokesman Tommaso Della Longa.

On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the extreme heat is a “new normal.”

In France, red alerts have been issued for 16 departments, including Paris, with temperatures expected to reach 41 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit).

Visitors without tickets are being told to postpone trips to the Eiffel Tower, with the uppermost level remaining closed until Thursday. Operators say the shutdown is “to ensure everyone’s comfort and safety.”

More than 1,300 schools have closed, hospitals are preparing for heat-related cases, and traffic restrictions are in place in Greater Paris.

Fire crews are on high alert for wildfires, while heavy storms have triggered mudslides in the Alps. Cooler weather is forecast for the country from Wednesday.

Climate experts warn that future summers are set to become hotter than any on record. By 2100, France could be up to 4 C warmer, with temperatures topping 40 C every year and extreme spikes possibly hitting 50 C.