In parts of France, the sun sets, but the heat does not disappear. For over a week, "tropical nights" have occurred, with temperatures staying above 20 degrees Celsius. In some places, evening temperatures have been close to 30 degrees, making it impossible for people to cool down.
This is the current situation in Europe's heat crisis. On Friday, June 26, 2026, a group called World Weather Attribution announced their findings. They confirmed what many people already felt: this heatwave is the most extreme temperature event ever recorded in the region.
The heat is incredibly intense. Across Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France, daytime temperatures have gone over 40 degrees Celsius. The heat was so strong that France broke its national temperature record on a Wednesday, and then broke it again the next day. Now, this extreme heat is moving east, bringing difficult conditions to Germany and central Europe.
The environment is suffering. Train tracks are bending, power grids are overloaded, and schools have closed. Even the energy industry is having problems. French nuclear power plants need cooling water from rivers, but the rivers are low, reducing the plants' ability to produce electricity when it is needed most.
Researchers say the cause is clear. Burning coal, oil, and gas has raised global temperatures by about 1.4 degrees Celsius since the 1800s. They stated that the El Niño weather pattern was not a cause. Instead, they directly blamed human activities.
"This event could not have happened in June without climate change," said Theodore Keeping, a researcher from Imperial College London. His colleague, Friederike Otto, explained that while the weather system itself is normal, the extreme heat is not.
To show how much the climate has changed, scientists compared today's heatwave to the past. If this weather happened fifty years ago, in June 1976, the temperature would have been about 3.5 degrees Celsius lower. Today, such an event is almost impossible without human influence.
The international research team used past data and modern climate models. They concluded that while this heatwave is rare, happening less than one percent of the time in any given year, it is becoming more common. An event this large is now 200 times more likely than it was twenty years ago.
The most worrying change is happening at night. The deadly heatwave in 2003 killed many people because their bodies could not cool down overnight. Today, these dangerous nighttime temperatures are about 100 times more likely than in 2003.
Scientists measure this danger using the wet bulb globe temperature, which combines heat and humidity. When high humidity stops sweat from evaporating, the body cannot cool itself, turning a hot evening into a health risk.
Europe is warming up very quickly. Daily high temperatures are rising three times faster than the global average, and nighttime temperatures are rising twice as fast. June is warming faster than any other month. In many cities, heat stress records are being broken or are expected to be broken.
This is the second major heat event of 2026, after a warm May. As Keeping noted, a new generation of students experiences "heat days" instead of snow days. The science is clear; the only question is how humans will respond.
"It's really now a question of what kind of future we want for ourselves," Otto said, "and whether we're willing to do what it takes to secure it."