Paris (France) (AFP) – A record 52% of European territory was exposed to intense heat stress during the exceptionally hot summer that hit the continent this year, the EU climate observatory said on Friday.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 09:26

Fueled by climate change, the world's fastest-warming continent has suffered a near-constant series of heatwaves that began unusually early in the spring, breaking temperature records and causing tens of thousands of additional deaths.

Heat stress occurs when the body's natural cooling mechanisms are overwhelmed, leading to symptoms ranging from dizziness and headaches to multiple organ failure and death.

“One of the highlights of 2026 is that the heat has been remarkable not only for its intensity, but also for its geographic extent,” said Samantha Burgess, climate manager at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which manages the Copernicus programme.

This summer has been the hottest ever measured in Western Europe, with four of the ten most intense heat episodes ever experienced in Europe, notably in France but also in the United Kingdom and Belgium, according to Copernicus.

The heat wave of August 2003, however, remains the most severe - a criterion measuring the combined duration and intensity, specifies Copernicus.

In 2026, there were also "17 days during which at least 60% of Western Europe experienced temperatures above 30°C, compared to 11 in 2003 and 7 in 2025.

This situation exposed 52% of Europe to “very strong” thermal stress, corresponding to a temperature felt above 38°C, indicates Copernicus.

Drought

Around 80% of the continent experienced “strong” thermal stress, meaning a temperature felt above 32°C. These conditions were observed for a record 41 days during the season, five more than in 2003, the year of a historic heatwave.

“The summer of 2026 has shown how heat stress is becoming both more widespread and more persistent,” Ms Burgess said, noting that it is the leading cause of weather-related mortality globally.

This summer has also been marked by dry conditions resulting in the lowest river flows on record since records began in 1992, disrupting freight transport and putting strains on irrigation, nuclear reactor cooling and hydropower generation, according to Copernicus.

Episodes of drought have been increasing in Europe for 45 years.

By the end of August, drought affected almost half of Europe, Burgess said. And European seas and oceans also recorded "record or near-record surface temperatures on a large part of the Atlantic coast as well as in the west and central Mediterranean", accompanied by "strong to exceptional" marine heat waves.

“This is one of the defining features of this summer: it is not about an isolated record, but about the way in which multiple records appeared simultaneously within the climate system,” noted Ms. Burgess.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.