Europe heatwave saw 18m in new 40C areas, AFP finds

Europe's 2026 heatwave summer brought 40C temperatures to regions where that threshold had not been reached for at least 25 years, an AFP analysis found.

The analysis, based on daily maximum temperatures from the European Drought Observatory up to August 15, found that European regions excluding Turkey and home to 18 million people reached 40C for the first time since at least 2000.

The areas included German regions home to nine million people, especially south and west of Berlin and around Frankfurt. French regions home to four million people were also affected, including parts of eastern France and Brittany.

The heat was also persistent. From mid-June to mid-August, temperatures rose above 35C on more than 55 days around Lerida in Catalonia, Cordoba and Granada in Andalusia, and Nicosia in Cyprus. Spain's AEMET weather agency said the Lerida weather station recorded more than 35C every day for over a month.

Several countries in central, eastern and northern Europe broke all-time temperature records, including 37C in Denmark and 42.2C in Slovakia. Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland recorded highs between 40C and 42C.

Italy likely had the summer's highest temperature in Europe, with 48.4C in Orani, Sardinia, on July 19, according to the regional environmental protection agency ARPAS. That was just below the European record of 48.8C set in Sicily in 2021.

Hot nights also spread. Parts of Europe home to around 18 million people had nights when temperatures did not fall below 25C, including areas of France's Pays de la Loire and the wider Paris region. Some areas in southern Italy, Sicily, the southern Adriatic coast and Croatia recorded more than 20 such nights over two months, according to EDO data.