Météo-France warned that southeastern France could approach 40 C beginning Tuesday. An amber heat-health alert covered most of England as temperatures were forecast to reach 36 C later in the week. The episode was described as the fifth heat wave of the season in both the United Kingdom and France. France forecast temperatures near 40 C while most of England entered an amber health alert after a record-hot early summer.
Copernicus reported a western European average of 21.62 C for June and July, exceeding the region’s 2022 record. July’s average extrapolar ocean surface temperature reached 20.96 C, the highest July value in the dataset. The global July surface-air temperature averaged 16.90 C, tied with July 2024 as the second warmest July on record. Copernicus said Europe has warmed about twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s.
Heat since May has accompanied wildfires, drought and national temperature records in several European countries. Health alerts focus on risks that grow with duration, overnight warmth, age, illness and limited access to cooling. Developing El Niño conditions can add short-term warming to the longer human-caused climate trend. Projected heat-related deaths are model-based estimates and are different from deaths individually certified after an event.
Transport, power systems and emergency services can be stressed even when local maximum temperatures remain below national records. The United Kingdom and France prepared for another dangerous heat episode as Copernicus reported a record average temperature for western Europe in June and July. The source record distinguishes verified observations and published data from attributed institutional or political claims; where a source described a claim rather than independently proving it, this account preserves that attribution.
Forecast temperatures and health impacts were not final; local conditions and verified mortality estimates would emerge after the episode. The next dated evidence to compare is observed temperatures and overnight lows, followed by wildfire activity and excess-mortality estimates. Those records will show which preliminary details hold, which totals change and which announced actions become operational.