Britain is hit by its third heatwave of the year as Western Europe counts the cost of its hottest June on record | extreme heat

As countries across Europe struggle to recover from the scorching summer heat, Britain is sweltering toward the peak of its third heatwave of the year.

Fossil fuel pollution has led to higher temperatures, which have broken records across the continent in recent weeks. Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, scientists confirmed on Thursday. This was coupled with high global ocean temperatures that could cause “mass mortality events” for some species.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Thursday extended its yellow fever health alert to cover all parts of England except the North East. This means that high temperatures are likely to have serious impacts across health and social care services.

The Met Office said high temperatures will remain until next week, which could make the heat wave the longest-lasting since the 1976 heat wave that killed 250 people. Temperatures in Surrey on Thursday topped 35C (95F), falling short of the provisional high of 37.7C recorded at Strumpshaw Hill, Lingwood, Norfolk, on June 26.

The Met Office said Thursday was the eighth day this year that temperatures had exceeded 34C, breaking previous records by one day set in 2020 and 1976.

Friederike Otto, professor of climate science at Imperial College London, said the climate crisis was making all heat waves hotter and making events like this month’s heatwave more likely.

“The heat we have seen this summer has been made possible by the 1.4 degrees of climate change to date due to burning fossil fuels,” she said.

Otto said using the term ‘new normal’ to describe this year’s scorching summer heat can be misleading. “Today’s climate is not stable and will continue to warm as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels. As a result, what is ‘normal’ will continue to change and we are likely to see much hotter heat waves like this in the coming years.”

Many countries across Europe are still contemplating the aftermath of the last heat wave. On Thursday, the Belgian Institute for Public Science said June’s heat was “exceptionally deadly” with 1,747 excess deaths, while the Robert Koch Institute reported 5,120 heat-related deaths in Germany this summer. Early academic estimates suggest the continent-wide death toll could be more than 20,000.

A firefighter sprays water on spectators watching stage 6 of the Tour de France between Pau and Gavarnie-Gèdre in the French Pyrenees. Photo: Loïc Venance/AFP/Getty Images

In France, where high temperatures reportedly forced a nuclear reactor to shut down on Thursday, scientists said transforming housing from “heat kettles” to decent housing was a public health imperative.

France’s High Commission for Climate, an independent body that assesses governments’ climate actions, has urged policymakers to improve housing stock and make shaded green spaces an essential part of urban regeneration. Hospitals, nursing homes and schools were encouraged to install shutters, shade structures, ceiling fans, cooling systems and fixed air conditioning units.

The annual report, now in its eighth edition, said France was unprepared for the dangerous consequences of climate breakdown and that current policies were insufficient to avoid a sharp increase in risks.

A boy is resting at the Roman Theater in Arles, France. Photo: Xinhua/Shutterstock

Scientists have bemoaned the slowdown in climate change and called for a unified plan to phase out fossil fuels. “The costs of inaction are much higher than the costs of switching,” the authors wrote. “This makes unilateral decarbonization of major economies a rational option with significant welfare benefits for society.”

England’s NHS said it was facing an ‘onslaught of summer’ due to heat waves and the World Cup. Average A&E attendances topped 80,000 in June, a new daily attendance record for the first time.

Professor Frankie Swords, NHS national medical director, said the figures showed summer was putting the NHS under just as much pressure as winter. South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said there was a 118 per cent increase in the number of times responders to 999 emergency calls during the June heat wave instructed members of the public to fetch nearby defibrillators for people suspected of having a heart attack.

More than 1,000 schools across England were closed or partially closed during the June heat wave, with some taking similar measures this week to cope with poorly insulated buildings.

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Water companies have reported increased demand, with a hosepipe ban already in place for South East Water customers in parts of Kent. Hosepipe restrictions will also be introduced from Friday for around one million Southern Water customers across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Supermarkets across the UK are struggling to keep their fridges and freezers running despite extreme heat. Many shoppers noticed empty shelves at local stores and signs were hastily erected to apologize for the inconvenience.

Rupert Ashby, chairman of the British Frozen Food Federation, said the trade association had heard from many members who were facing problems and that stores with older fridge and freezer units were the worst affected.

In older models, the refrigeration cycle components that pump the hot air are typically stored outside the building and are designed to operate at ambient temperatures. In extreme heat, they do not work as efficiently because they cannot pump out heat.

A sign displayed on the blinds covering refrigerators in the refrigerated food aisle of a Sainsbury’s supermarket in the United Kingdom. Photo: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

“These systems are not designed to handle these types of temperatures because historically they have rarely handled these types of temperatures,” Ashby said. “But the major supermarket chains may be considering spending hundreds of millions of pounds to replace all their old products, because they have so many of them.”

Phil Pluck, CEO of the Cold Chain Federation, said 50% of the UK’s refrigerated warehouses have older refrigeration systems that are more than 20 years old, and hot weather has led to a huge increase in energy use and increased strain on the systems.

“As an industry we are under increasing pressure,” he said. “I think our climate is now clearly in crisis, and one of the things that needs to change is access to food through retail stores. It’s going to look different.”

He said open refrigerator-freezers in supermarkets would become less common and standard practice would shift to using draft doors to keep heat out. Some supermarkets have installed pull-down blinds in their refrigerators to keep food cool.

Additional reporting by Jessica Murray

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