Event: Paris

People use parasols to protect themselves from the sun as they queue outside a shop in London on June 26, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP The United Kingdom broke the record for a June temperature for the third day in a row on Friday (June 26, 2026), the Met Office weather agency said, as a sweltering heatwave strained schools and hospitals and drove down business.A provisional 37.3 C record temperature was chalked up in Santon Downham, a village in Suffolk, in southeast England, the Met Office told AFP, breaking the previous high of 36.9°C set earlier Friday (June 26, 2026). A man drinks from a water bottle after loading up his fruit and vegetable stall, which has been in his family for 105 years, at North End Road Market in Fulham, London, on June 26, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters Before this week, the U.K.’s 1976 record temperature for June of 35.6°C “had stood for 50 years, but — provisionally — it has been exceeded on three consecutive days this week,” said Met Office climate spokesman Grahame Madge.“Today marks the peak of the heatwave in terms of temperatures,” chief forecaster Andy Page said in a statement.The Met Office has issued its highest-level red “extreme heat” warning for an unprecedented three days in a row until Friday evening (June 26, 2026).It has warned of “population-wide adverse health effects” as doctors, teachers and climate experts cautioned that the UK was unprepared for increasingly frequent heatwaves due to climate change.The electricity grid operator NESO issued a new warning that supply margins could be tighter during the peak demand period on Friday evening due to pressure on the system.At a market in central London which mainly caters to office workers, street food vendors were struggling to work beside the gas-fired stoves and footfall was…

Only competitions involving professional athletes will be held, with all other activities cancelled.This weekend’s Diamond League track and field meeting in Paris will go ahead as planned despite the historic heatwave gripping the country and stretching emergency services, organisers said.Hours after Paris police authorities said they wanted the event cancelled, the French Athletics Federation (FFA) confirmed on Friday that it would take place on Sunday at Charlety Stadium, in agreement with the police prefecture.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Power outages in France as Europe bakes in record heatlist 2 of 4‘People should be very concerned’: What to know about Europe’s heatwavelist 3 of 4How to stay cool and treat heatstroke during a heatwavelist 4 of 4Thermal cameras reveal intense heat for outdoor workers in Europeend of listCiting the exceptional heat that has affected Paris since June 21, the police prefecture had asked organisers of the meet, and other events scheduled this weekend, including a music festival and a Pride march, to cancel.The prefecture said it would be forced to comply with the order if they didn’t agree voluntarily, as emergency services needed to concentrate their efforts on protecting the most vulnerable people.Noah Lyles, Femke Bol and Mondo Duplantis are among the athletes expected to compete in Paris.The FFA, which organises the meet, said it would be staged in “an adapted format designed to ensure the safety of all participants”.Only competitions involving professional athletes will be held, with all other activities cancelled.“Since the beginning of this extreme weather event, the French Athletics Federation has been closely monitoring the situation in constant coordination with government authorities. The safety of athletes, coaches, volunteers, officials, spectators and all staff involved remains our highest priority,” the FFA said.Among the measures put in place to mitigate the effects of the heat, the FFA…

Lightning strikes lit up the sky across the UK during the early hours of Friday as thunderstorms were triggered by the intense heat.Social media footage showed the flashes over Edinburgh Castle, Bristol and Manchester, while parts of Northern Ireland and Wales were also hit.The heat is expected to ease off over the weekend, with a yellow warning for thunderstorms issued for Scotland and parts of northern England.In pictures: Lightning strikes light up sky after hottest day

UK June heat record pushed even further to 37.3CA provisional temperature of 37.3C has been reached in Santon Downham, in Suffolk, setting another record UK high for June, the Met Office said, as rare red warnings remain in place on FridayThis beats the previously reported 37.1C from earlier today, which was provisionally set in Cavendish, Suffolk this afternoon.These smashed the longstanding record for June heat – which dates back to the summer of 1976 – by more than 1C, which is significant given such records were usually broken only by a fraction of a degree in the past.Forecasters expect temperatures to reach as high as 36C in London and 35C in Manchester on Friday. Belfast and Cardiff are forecasted possible highs of 26C.UK remains under red warning of extreme heat. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA“This exceptional spell of hot and humid weather will maintain its grip on the UK for a little longer,” said one of the Met Office’s chief meteorologists Andy Page.“Although the current red warning for areas in more central and western parts of England and Wales will expire later today, the heatwave will still be bringing high temperatures to these areas, albeit moving away from the peak heat of Wednesday and Thursday.“We are expecting that some daytime maximum temperatures could exceed 36C, perhaps rising to 37C in some locations.”Prof Stephen Belcher CBE, Met Office chief scientist, said: “The heatwave this week is a significant weather event, with a Red Extreme Heat warning issued. Human induced climate change has made events like this more likely and more intense.“To see temperatures like this in the UK in June is sobering. Events like this bring home the implications of climate change, with very high temperatures and humidity bringing significant health implications from heat stress, as well as impacts to a range of…

The number of deaths in France linked to the heatwave has climbed to four toddlers and more than 55 drownings, as the brutally hot conditions sweeping Europe were forecast to shift east, choking 150 million people under 35C (95F) temperatures.Scientists said the heatwave was the most severe and widespread ever, leaving nearly half of the region’s 850 largest cities grappling with unprecedented heat stress. They said the extreme temperatures had been made possible by the climate crisis driven by fossil fuel burning.On Friday, a hospital in Marseille said an 18-month-old child had died in emergency care earlier in the week after he was found in a car in a state of hyperthermia. A police source told the newspaper Le Figaro it was believed that the father, who works in the area, may have forgotten his son in the car when he was supposed to drop him off at daycare.Earlier this week, a three-year-old boy in a Paris suburb was found dead after climbing into a car and becoming trapped when the child lock was activated. Separately, the bodies of two children aged two and four were found in their family’s car in a residential car park.France’s sports minister, Marina Ferrari, said on Friday that at least 55 people across the country had drowned, up from the 40 reported earlier in the week. “By yesterday night we were at 55, but we fear that the situation may worsen,” she told the broadcaster Franceinfo.France’s health minister, Stéphanie Rist, visits an emergency shelter during the heatwave in Paris. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty ImagesIn the UK, the Met Office said the record for the hottest June day had been broken for the third day running. Provisional figures showed a temperature of 37.3C in Santon Downham, Suffolk, on Friday, beating the previous record of 36.7C set…

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Heat-related deaths and disruptions to daily life are forcing politicians to reckon, in different ways, with a rapidly warming planet.Carrying a floor fan during the heat in Paris on Thursday.Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesJune 26, 2026It was a crisp 54 degrees in Aberdeen, on the northeast coast of Scotland, last week when Kemi Badenoch, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, once again championed the country’s fossil fuel industry.“The war on oil and gas must end,” she insisted, prompting applause from supporters in the port city, a major hub for petroleum extraction in the North Sea. “We need to get Britain drilling again.”Eight days later, thermostats across southern England and Wales recorded soaring heat, with temperatures in London nearing 100 degrees. Schools closed, trains were canceled or delayed and some hospitals halted elective procedures. The opening session of London Climate Action Week, focused on improving extreme heat governance, was called off after Britain’s national weather service, the Met Office, issued a “red warning.”For politicians like Ms. Badenoch, who has called herself a “net zero skeptic” and whose party won a special election in Aberdeen, the increasingly intense heat presents a challenge. How do they reconcile their support for faster extraction and use of polluting energy sources that contribute to the warming of the planet, with the reality of a planet that already feels like it’s burning up?Andrew Bowie, the lawmaker who oversees energy policy for the Conservatives, said in response to a request for comment that Ms. Badenoch and the Conservatives supported the transition to cleaner energy, but added: “It’s a transition, and it makes no sense at all to pursue net zero targets…