London: A new heatwave is set to strike large parts of Western Europe in another phase of a blistering summer, as official figures confirm that June and July were the region’s hottest on record.

France is bracing for its fifth heatwave of the season, while record-low river levels threaten to disrupt shipping in Germany after already causing outages at a nuclear power station in Hungary.

Britain has widened its warnings about drought and issued an “amber alert” for the days ahead, forecasting a rise in deaths and greater demand for health services as a result of the rising temperatures.

The average temperature for June and July across western Europe was the highest on record, at 21.62 degrees, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, an agency of the European Union.

The result for the two months was 2.79 degrees above average, surpassing the previous record from 2022.

“July 2026 was the third consecutive month of exceptional heat in western Europe, bringing the combined temperature for June and July to a new record for the region,” said Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

“Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought.

“As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily.

“This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another.”

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is an independent agency overseen by a council that represents states including most European Union nations and some neighbouring states. It works with the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the two organisations issued the new data on Monday.

Not all the hot days set records. The average temperature over European land in July, rather than over the two-month period including June, was the eleventh-highest on record for the month.

Temperatures were much higher than average in western countries such as France, Spain, the UK and Ireland, but were lower than average across much of eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

Sea temperatures, however, rose to record highs for July along the Atlantic coast and western Mediterranean, bringing severe marine heatwave conditions.

The average sea surface temperature for the extra-polar ocean in July was the highest on record for the month, at 20.96 degrees, surpassing the previous July record of 20.89 degrees in 2023, according to the two weather agencies.

The British Met Office is forecasting 36 degrees in London this Thursday and says the year so far has seen 34 days with temperatures above 30 degrees, matching a record from 1995.

Parts of London have not had rain for 44 days, according to weather stations such as the NW3 station near Hampstead Heath.

“Almost three-quarters of England is now in drought as conditions worsen following a dry start to August,” the country’s Environment Agency declared, acting on advice from scientists.

The agency said the past month was the driest July in 190 years, with rainfall only reaching 10 per cent of the long-term average.

In France, the national weather agency is warning that temperatures will reach about 40 degrees in the south-east of the country this week.

In Germany, the federal association of inland shipping companies, known as the BDB, expressed concern about low water levels in the Rhine.

BDB managing director Jens Schwanen said water levels at a gauging station at Kaub, near Koblenz, were forecast to ⁠drop to the lowest levels recorded.

“Commercial shipping will no longer be able to transport goods ​in the region at such low water levels,” he ​said.

“The same goes for day trips and cruise shipping. In principle, the ‌Rhine ⁠is then no longer navigable along its entire length and thus split in two.”

Many parts of the Rhine still have enough water. Schwanen said shipping would continue between the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam ​and Antwerp. As well, marine traffic continues on the west German canal network and the tributaries such as the ​Main, ⁠Moselle and Neckar rivers, as well as the canal that connects the Main River to the Danube.

The broader European river system, however, is under severe stress. The low water levels in the Danube forced the Hungarian government to shut down most of the electricity generation at a nuclear power station on the river in recent days.

Levels on the Danube around Romania’s nuclear power plant are also set to continue to fall this week, despite urgent measures to re-direct cooling water to its sole working reactor, Reuters reported.

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