In the coming days, many areas in Europe are expecting a second heatwave this month, with temperatures soaring to 37–39 degrees.
Heatwave in Europe: schools are closing, alcohol is banned, trains are slowing down.
Schools are shutting down, booze is off the table, and trains are getting canceled: the escalating heatwave is practically putting daily life in Europe on ice.
In certain areas of Spain, temperatures are expected to rise to 45 °C. On Sunday, the first officially declared heat wave of 2026 began, prompting red and orange weather danger levels across the country.
More than half of France's territory has also been elevated to a red danger level: the country is experiencing its second period of extreme heat this year, with cases of heat-related deaths already reported over the weekend. The UK has also issued serious heat warnings, with temperatures in the south expected to reach up to 38 °C. Other countries, including Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland, are facing extreme heat as well.
"Anthropogenic climate change has acted as a springboard for this phenomenon, saturating the atmosphere with extra heat and making extreme temperatures much more intense than they would have been in the past," said Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading in the UK, to the French press agency AFP.
In 2024, the hottest year on record for the continent, over 62,000 people died across Europe due to heat-related causes. Experts warn that as temperatures continue to rise, this number will increase.
The elderly, young children, and people with chronic illnesses are at the greatest risk, along with hundreds of thousands of seasonal outdoor workers across Europe, most of whom are migrants.
Schools in France are closing as the heat intensifies
In France, authorities closed 845 schools on Monday, June 22, and students at another 1,800 institutions were allowed to leave early, reports AFP.
This came just a week after the French Minister of Education Édouard Geffray proposed moving the exam times so that they do not occur during the hottest hours of the day, considering the increasingly early and intense heat waves in the country.
Since then, the regional authorities of Île-de-France have announced €1 million in aid for 500 examination centers to purchase cooling equipment like fans and misting systems.
Across the Channel in the UK, there have been no mass school closures announced yet, but some institutions have relaxed uniform requirements to make students more comfortable and are conducting risk assessments to protect children and teachers.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) under the UK government recently called for the installation of air conditioning systems in all schools over the next 25 years, as extreme heat is expected to intensify. While air conditioners can save lives during extreme heat, they simultaneously exacerbate the problem by emitting carbon dioxide and refrigerants that warm the planet.
Reduction of railway services in France and Belgium
At the beginning of the week, passengers in the Paris region and Belgium will face a reduced number of trains to lower the risk of breakdowns that could block tracks.
As temperatures rise, railways face risks of track deformation, fires on embankments, and sagging overhead lines — these are just some of the risks for railways in extreme heat conditions.
In Île-de-France, where one in ten trains was canceled on Monday to protect the overheating railway infrastructure, regional president Valérie Pécresse urged people to avoid non-essential travel and to work from home whenever possible, according to AFP.
Some rail operators in the UK have also adjusted their services: during peak heat hours, there are expected to be fewer trains and slightly longer travel times. As explained by Great Western Railway (GWR), in extreme heat, the tracks expand and can bend, so when certain temperature thresholds are reached, trains are forced to slow down for safety.