Europe braces for intensifying heatwave, schools close and trains canceled

Much of Europe is preparing for a severe heatwave to intensify further in the coming days, prompting extraordinary measures across several nations. France has placed 49 of its mainland departments under a red alert warning, a significant increase from the weekend. Officials announced the closure of 845 schools on Monday, with an additional 1,800 schools allowing students to leave early. The annual music festival was canceled in several towns, and public alcohol consumption has been banned in departments under red alert due to health and public order concerns.

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Human-driven climate change has provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past.

Temperatures have already surpassed 40°C (104°F) in some parts of France, a level considered extreme for June. In the Gironde region of southwestern France, local authorities reported that three individuals, aged between 80 and 95, died partly due to the intense heat. Forecasters warn that the current heatwave could be as severe as the one in August 2003, which resulted in nearly 15,000 deaths in France.

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particularly intense and particularly early

Both France and Belgium have reduced their rail services to mitigate the risk of breakdowns on the tracks during the extreme heat. Belgium's national rail company SNCB canceled some rush hour trains for Monday and Tuesday. David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at Belgium's IRM meteorological institute, warned that temperatures in Belgium might reach "the hottest ever recorded" this week. France's junior minister for ecology, Mathieu Lefevre, described the heatwave as "particularly intense and particularly early," noting that several European countries already reported record temperatures in May.

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the hottest ever recorded

Experts attribute the recent surge in heat records to human-driven climate change. Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the University of Reading's National Centre for Atmospheric Science, stated that climate change has "provided the springboard for this event, loading the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures far more intense than they would have been in the past." Spain's weather service Aemet warned of "extremely high" temperatures until Wednesday, with forecasts reaching 44°C (111.2°F) in some areas. In Britain, Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, predicted that existing UK heat records for June would be "annihilated," with temperatures likely to reach 38-39°C (100.4-102.2°F).

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annihilated