The death toll from heatstroke in Spain, according to the Carlos III Health Institute, is more than double that of June last year, which the Spanish weather agency Aemet says was the warmest June since statistics began to be kept.
The first half of this year was also the warmest on record for the country so far, with temperatures 1.6 degrees above normal, Aemet writes on X.
The seven warmest first half-years in Spain since 1961 have been recorded in the past ten years.
Red alert
In neighbouring Portugal, the regions of Lisbon and Setúbal have been put on red alert due to expected high temperatures on Thursday. On Friday, the weather warning will be extended to areas further north, where temperatures could reach 44 degrees.
"During this period of very hot weather, the most notable factor is its duration, which should last at least a week," the national weather authority IPMA said in a statement.
Previously, the country has been relatively spared from the heat wave.
One person has died in Romania and one in Austria as a result of storms in the wake of the intense heat wave, authorities say.
Deadly forest fire
Two people have died in a huge forest fire in northern Greece, the fire service said. One of the dead is a man and the other is suspected to be a 12-year-old boy. The fire service has brought a half-mile-wide wall of fire under control after the fire earlier threatened the community of Liti outside the city of Thessaloniki.
Greece is hit by extensive fires every year during the dry and hot season.
The heatwave in Europe that began in late June was the most intense on record. According to the World Weather Attribution research network, such a heatwave would have been “virtually impossible” in June without climate change.
All-time temperature records were broken during the month in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Records were broken for the month of June in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Record-high daily average temperatures have been recorded in France, as the country has recorded its highest night temperatures to date.
