June heatwave: 35°C+ temperatures affected two-thirds of Europe’s population

An area of Europe with 410 million people -- more than two-thirds of the continent's population -- experienced temperatures over 35oC at least once during a June 15-30 heatwave, according to an AFP analysis. By comparison, some 320 million people in Europe experienced such temperatures during a record-setting heatwave between August 1 and 17, 2003.

AFP made the calculations using daily maximum temperature data from the European Drought Observatory and population figures from the Joint Research Centre. Almost the entire population of mainland France and more than three-quarters of the combined populations of Spain and Italy experienced temperatures exceeding 35oC at some point during the June heatwave, which stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to Ukraine, passing through the Balkans and Germany.

Temperatures exceeded 35oC in an area surrounding the Spanish city of Lleida, Catalonia, for at least 16 consecutive days, according to an AFP analysis of data from the European observatory. More broadly, daily maximum temperatures rose above 35oC for nearly 50 million people across Europe on at least 10 occasions during the heatwave.

These included 18 million people in central and southern France, over 15 million in northeastern and southwestern Spain, and 12 million in northern Italy, mainly in the Po Valley. All-time temperature records were broken in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, as well as June records in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Average temperatures in France hit record highs, notably including the hottest nights ever recorded in the country.