Record European heat wave kills over 5,200 in Spain, shatters UK temperature records

A record-breaking heat wave that swept across Europe this summer has killed more than 5,000 people in Spain, while the United Kingdom and Austria recorded their hottest summers since meteorological observations began. Even as summer ends, parts of southern Europe are forecast to see temperatures well above 30 degrees Celsius into early September.

Spain's Carlos III Health Institute counted 5,234 heat-related deaths from May 15 through Tuesday (local time), according to Reuters and other reports. August alone accounted for 2,149 of those deaths.

The toll is the highest since Spain began tracking such statistics in 2015, surpassing the previous record of 4,789 set in 2022. In 2023, the country recorded 3,035 heat-related deaths.

Looking further back, 2003 remains the deadliest year on record. The heat wave that struck Europe that summer is estimated to have killed around 13,000 people in Spain alone.

Nordic countries were not spared the unusual heat. According to the UK Met Office, the average temperature for June through August this year came in at a provisional 16.5 C — the highest since records began in 1884. That breaks the previous record of 16.1 C set last year, a mark that stood for just one year.

This summer, 54 weather stations across the UK set new daily maximum temperature records. On Aug. 13, the thermometer at Kew Gardens in London climbed to 38.1 C, the fifth-highest temperature ever recorded in the country.

"Climate change has made a summer like this year's 130 times more likely," said Mark McCarthy, head of climate analysis at the Met Office. "Without the influence of greenhouse gas emissions, it would have been a less-than-once-in-a-thousand-years event. In the current climate, we should expect a summer like this roughly once every nine years."

Austria broke both temperature and drought records simultaneously. According to GeoSphere Austria, the country's national weather service, this summer's average temperature was 2.6 C above the 1991–2020 mean — and 4.4 C above the 1961–1990 average. Rainfall was about one-third below normal.

On Aug. 5, Austria recorded temperatures above 41 C for the first time in history. Records for peak temperatures, number of heat days and tropical nights fell in quick succession. GeoSphere Austria said the summer was "difficult to describe with any fitting adjective."

Climatologist Alexander Orlik said that in 169 years of meteorological records, rainfall through August had never been this low. "The extreme heat and dry air combined to sharply increase evaporation rates, which in turn led to soil moisture deficits and low reservoir levels," he said.

Germany also endured its second-hottest summer on record. The country's provisional June-to-August average temperature was 19.6 C, just behind the 19.7 C recorded in 2003, and 3.3 C above the 1961–1990 mean. Temperatures exceeded 30 C on an average of 22 days and surpassed 35 C on five days.

Wildfires compounded the damage as drought accompanied the heat wave across the continent. Last month, major fires broke out in Greece, France and Spain, forcing evacuations, and a single blaze in southwestern France burned through 1,100 hectares.

Although summer has ended meteorologically, the heat in southern Europe is forecast to persist for now. Highs in Rome, Athens and Madrid are expected to reach the mid-30s C during the first week of September, suggesting the summer heat wave's effects could linger well into early autumn.