BRUSSELS

Most of Europe is experiencing a severe heat wave, with temperatures significantly above seasonal averages, said experts at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), on Tuesday.

The ECMWF’s medium-range forecasts indicate large areas of the continent will continue to face unusually high daytime and nighttime temperatures in early July, especially in southern Europe.

Reanalysis data from the C3S revealed that Europe endured two intense heat waves in June, one peaking around June 20 and another one week later. Preliminary data suggests that June may rank among the five hottest on record for the continent.

"The current June-July heatwave is exposing millions of Europeans to high heat stress. And our reanalysis data shows that many Europeans have experienced very high temperatures for the period since the start of June," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at ECMWF.

"The temperatures observed recently are more typical of the months of July and August and tend to only happen a few times each summer. Climate change is making heatwaves more frequent, more intense, and impacting larger geographical areas," she added.

Several areas recorded historic highs in June, including 46ºC (114ºF) in Huelva, Spain, according to the Aemet national weather agency. In France, Meteo France placed 84 departments under an orange alert Monday and several under red Tuesday, calling the situation "unprecedented."

The Benelux region and parts of France are experiencing temperature anomalies of 10ºC to 14ºC above historical norms. High temperature alerts were also issued for Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.