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Five ways Europe's heat-wave summer is hot, hot, hot
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Add as preferred source Temperatures have been off the charts this year in Europe, the continent warming faster than any other continent. Here are five reasons why Europe's summer of 2026 will go down in the history of climate change:
While hitting 40°C (104°F) in summer has become routine in some parts of Europe, other areas crossed that threshold for the first time in 2026.
Regions of Europe (excluding Turkey) that are home to 18 million people saw the thermometer hit 40°C (104°F) for the first time since at least 2000—according to an AFP analysis based on daily maxima from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) through Aug. 15.
This especially affected regions of Germany that are home to 9 million people, particularly those south and west of Berlin and around Frankfurt.
Regions of France home to 4 million people, notably in eastern France and Brittany, were also hit.
While heat spikes can be tough on the body, persistent high temperatures can also be exhausting.
From mid-June to mid-August, temperatures rose above 35°C (95°F) for more than 55 days around the Spanish municipalities of Lerida (Catalonia), Cordoba and Granada (Andalusia), according to EDO data.
While such persistent heat over that period had been observed in Andalusia in recent years, notably in 2025 and 2023, it had never been seen before in Lerida, which lies farther north.
The Lerida weather station recorded temperatures above 35°C (95°F) every day for more than a month, according to data from Spain's AEMET weather agency.
Residents of Nicosia, Cyprus, likewise saw more than 55 days with high temperatures above that level.
Many countries in central, eastern and northern Europe broke their all-time temperature records this year, including 37°C (99°F) in Denmark and 42.2°C (108°F) in Slovakia, alongside highs of between 40°C and 42°C (104°F and 108°F) in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
But Italy likely recorded the summer's highest temperature, with 48.4°C (119°F) in Orani, Sardinia, on July 19, according to the ARPAS regional environmental protection agency—just below the European record of 48.8°C (120°F) set in Sicily in 2021.
When it's very hot during the day, people long for the coolness of the night, but that respite is becoming less common.
In 2026, parts of Europe home to around 18 million people experienced nights when the temperature did not drop below 25°C (77°F).
This was notably the case for nearly 5 million people in France's Pays de la Loire region and the wider Paris region.
Several areas of Italy at the foot of the Alps that had previously been spared hot evenings also saw sweltering nights, while the phenomenon spread to Poland, particularly around Warsaw.
In southern Italy, nights when the temperature doesn't drop below 25°C (77°F) are fairly common, and this summer they became entrenched in some places.
In the tip of the boot, in Sicily and along the southern Adriatic coast, some areas recorded more than 20 hot nights over two months. It was a similar story across the sea in Croatia, for example, around the island of Brac, according to EDO data.
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