Europe heatwave: more than 90mil set for temperatures above 35°C

Europe is experiencing its fastest warming and is ill-prepared to handle hot weather, according to the European Environment Agency. Over 92 million people are bracing for temperatures above 35°C Wednesday in the continent's latest heatwave, primarily in France, Italy, and Spain. Repeated heatwaves have led to a record-setting hot summer, with droughts and wildfires claiming thousands of lives.

Scientists attribute this trend to human-induced climate change. Temperatures are forecasted to exceed 30°C for more than half of Europe's population on Wednesday, encompassing around 300 million people, excluding Turkey, according to German weather service forecasts and 2025 population projections from the European Joint Research Centre.

The most extreme heat is anticipated in Western and Southern Europe. Regions of France will see temperatures surpass 35°C, affecting 30 million inhabitants, while mountainous and northeastern areas remain relatively cooler. Similar heat levels are expected to impact 29 million in Italy and 21 million in Spain. The heatwave also extends to the Balkans, particularly Greece and the Adriatic coast, including Albania and Croatia.

In Northern Europe, temperatures in the UK are projected to rise above 30°C for 43 million people, marking the country's hottest summer ever, according to the Met Office. The calculation methodology employed by AFP, similar to Austria's NGO Klimadashboard, involves cross-referencing population density with the weather forecast model from Germany's national meteorological service at 0300 GMT.

An individual is considered affected if the model predicts temperatures above 30°C or 35°C at their location during the day. The model's 6.5km resolution may not fully account for urban heat island effects, where cities can be significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, potentially underestimating the number of affected individuals in densely populated urban regions, as noted by Klimadashboard in its European Heat Tracker website.