(Reuters)
PARIS/MADRID/LONDON, June 22 – At least 18 people died in France, including two children left in a hot car, as a heatwave hung over Europe, smashing temperature records in several cities on Monday.
As schools in France closed or modified timetables, forecasters in Britain predicted temperatures could break records for June this week.
The temperature in Bordeaux in France’s western wine country rose to 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking a record set last August. In Poitiers in central France it reached 41.2 C, beating a previous high set in 1947.
In San Sebastian, in Spain’s traditionally cooler north, the temperature was set to reach 40 C, more than double the city’s historic average for June 22 according to the Reuters Climate Monitor, which showed Europe as the continent furthest from its historic norm on Monday.
An April report by the World Meteorological Organization found Europe is warming at more than double the global rate.
