Seven people have died in France in an extreme early-summer heat event that is affecting a swathe of western Europe, as France and the UK set record highs for May and temperatures were forecast to rise further on Tuesday.
“What I can say today is that there have been seven deaths linked directly or indirectly to the heat,” a French government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon, told TF1 television, adding that five of the deaths were by drowning.
Météo France, the national weather agency, said Monday’s highest reading, 37.1C, was recorded near Hossegor, in the south-western department of Les Landes, and that temperatures across the west of the country could exceed 36C on Tuesday.
It said Monday was “the hottest day measured for the month of May since records began”, with the national average temperature, measured at 30 stations across the country, hitting 24.4C, compared with a previous high of 23.7C in 1944.
The UK’s Met Office said Monday was the country’s hottest May day on record, with temperatures hitting 34.8C at Kew Gardens, south-west London, a reading it described as “exceptional in the UK even in mid-summer, let alone May”.
In Spain, widespread highs of 36-38C in the Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Ebro valleys were expected to continue possibly until Friday, the state weather service, Aemet, said, adding that “in some of those areas, temperatures could reach 40C”.
In Italy’s Lazio region, which includes Rome, authorities have imposed restrictions on work in conditions “with prolonged exposure in the sun”, for example on farms, construction sites and in the delivery sector, between 12.30pm and 4pm.
Eight of France’s 96 administrative departments have been placed on an orange high-temperature alert, the second-highest level, requiring the population to “be vigilant and take precautions”, with a further 20 on a more moderate yellow warning.
It was the first time the national heat warning system had been activated in May since it was introduced in 2004.
“This is an unprecedented event with a one in 1,000 chance of happening at this time of year in the climate of 1979 to 2025,” Christophe Cassou, a climate scientist, told Le Monde. “It would have been virtually impossible in the pre-industrial era.”
The prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, called a meeting of key ministers on Thursday to assess government preparations for heatwaves after more than 350 weather stations across France recorded new monthly highs on Monday.
More records were likely to be set in France, Spain and the UK on Tuesday, forecasters said, with temperatures exceeding norms by 12C or 13C in what Météo France described as a “premature, remarkable and long” heat episode expected to last several more days.
The agency said the episode was caused by a heat dome, with hot air from Morocco trapped under an area of high pressure, and that Europe could expect such events to “occur more and more often, earlier and earlier, and to be more and more intense”.
Models have already estimated that, with the effects of climate breakdown, June heatwaves are now about 10 times more likely in Europe than they were in the pre-industrial era, and the same trajectory is becoming evident for May.
“This extension of the heatwave season is entirely characteristic of the effects of climate change,” Robert Vautard, a climate researcher, told Agence France-Presse. “Eventually, we will be seeing similar heat events in April and October.”
Two deaths in France on Sunday have been directly attributed to the heat: a woman competing in a Hyrox fitness competition in Lyon died of hyperthermia, and a 53-year-old man had a heart attack during a 10km running race in Paris.
Sixteen people were hospitalised, including 10 in a critical condition, during another road race in the Paris suburb of Maisons-Alfort. Three teenagers were among those who drowned in swimming accidents over the weekend.
High temperatures drove many people to the country’s beaches and rivers to cool off in the water, even though lifeguard supervision is not due to start in most areas until July.
While parts of the UK are entering a heatwave – with temperatures exceeding 26C to 28C, depending on the location, for three consecutive days – in France, night-time temperatures must also stay above a certain level for an official heatwave to be declared.