According to the Czech Meteorological Institute (CHMI), the highest temperature recorded on Saturday at the Doksany weather station north of Prague in the Czech Republic was 40.8 degrees Celsius.
Danish forecasters said the provisional temperature in Odum near Aarhus was recorded at 37 degrees Celsius. This surpasses the previous record of 36.4 degrees set in 1976.
Switzerland broke its record for the hottest June day on record for the third straight day on Saturday, with the mercury rising to 39 degrees in the northern city of Basel.
“These heatwaves are caused by slow-moving persistent areas of high pressure, so-called ‘heat domes’,” said Ben Rich, the BBC’s chief weather presenter.
“Temperatures rise every day as the air is compressed and warmed under high-pressure systems.
“There were very few clouds in the sky and the strong sunlight made the situation even hotter,” he added.
The death toll from drowning in France has risen to at least 55 since the heat wave began. About two-thirds of them were swimming in unsupervised areas.
Spain’s MoMo monitoring system recorded 327 deaths possibly linked to the heat wave from Sunday to Thursday.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent due to a variety of factors, including rapid heating of the Arctic and changes in jet stream patterns.
Scientists at World Weather Attribution said a heat wave of this scale in early summer would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago.
They say climate change is “definitely” to blame.
BBC weather forecaster Ben Rich said the extreme heat would continue into the weekend and into Monday, with temperatures still above 40C in some areas.
However, cooler conditions developing west of the continent will sweep east to bring some relief later in the week.
