LONDON: Temperatures hit record highs for May in the United Kingdom and France on Monday, as forecasters warned of a prolonged period of extreme heat across Europe throughout the week.
A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer.
Temperatures in Spain were expected to peak later this week at 38C, while parts of Italy imposed restrictions on working outdoors. In the UK, the Met Office weather agency said it was the hottest May day on record, with temperatures hitting 34.8C at Kew Gardens, southwest London — a full two degrees above the previous high.
“This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid-summer, let alone May,” it said on X. “The weather here, it’s like a mini version of hell. It’s boiling. It’s like really hot,” said 10-year-old Liza Nizari on a visit to London, where temperatures normally average about 17C or 18C at this time of year.
Lindy Brand-Daloze, a 66-year-old Australian administrator who has been living in in London for 12 years, said: “It’s warm, but it’s climate change, isn’t it? So, you know, (we have) probably got to get used to this.” Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts and floods more intense, resulting in temperature records being broken more frequently.
Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said the increase in extreme temperatures was “a good indication of climate change in action” and more likely to become “the new norm”.
Climate advisers last week warned the UK government that the country was “built for a climate that no longer exists” and urged it to adapt infrastructure like schools and hospitals for a warming planet. In 2022, temperatures in the UK soared above 40C for the first time since records began.
Heatwave alert
Across the Channel, weather agency Meteo-France put eight areas in the west of France on heatwave alert — signifying three days and nights of intense heat that are likely to pose a health risk to the population.
In the northwestern city of Rennes, 74-year-old Daniele Dupont tried to stick to the shade as she walked her dog in 27C on Monday morning. “I’m going to close the shutters. I won’t be going out this afternoon,” she said in the capital of the Brittany region.
On Sunday, “record high maximum temperatures for the month of May” were felt in at least 10 locations, including the northwestern seaside towns of Lorient and Noirmoutier. The capital, Paris, on Saturday notched up its first temperature above 30C of the year, hitting 31.9C.
Temperatures of up to 35C are expected in Brittany and between 36C and 37C in the south, with the high temperatures lasting until the weekend. On Sunday, a man died during a 10-kilometre running race in Paris, civil defence services said, while 10 more had to be taken to hospital in critical condition after a race in the capital’s suburb of Maisons-Alfort, the authorities said. A 28-year-old woman also died of heatstroke at an indoor athletics meeting in the eastern Rhone region.
Outdoor work restricted
In Spain, the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) warned the “extraordinarily high temperatures for this time of year” will continue across the country all week, except in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, off the northwest coast of Africa. “Widespread tropical nights” are also forecast in southwestern Spain from Wednesday, with temperatures peaking from Wednesday to Friday at between 36C and 38C, it wrote on X.
Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2026
