BREAKING NEWS - FRANCE SETS ALL TIME NEW TEMPERATURE HIGH AT 45.9C AS DEADLY HEAT WAVE EXPANDS ACROSS EUROPE
The extreme heat wave that is suspected for killing several people this week set an all-time high in France on Friday. Relief is on the horizon but not before the heat strengthens its grip across Europe this weekend.
The highest temperature ever measured across France in the entirety of record keeping was set on Friday afternoon. Temperatures soared to 45.9 C (114.6 F) at Gallargues-le-Montueux in southeastern France, exceeding the nation's previous all-time record high of 44.1 C (111.4 F) at Conqueyrac on Aug. 12, 2003.
Amid the unrelenting grip of dangerous heat, France's national weather service issued the first ever "red" hazardous weather warning for southeastern portions of the country on Friday. A “red” warning is the highest level out of a four-level alert system put into effect after the deadly 2003 heat wave that claimed 15,000 lives, according to the Associated Press.
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In neighboring Spain, officials suspect heatstroke caused a 17-year-old in Córdoba and a 80-year-old man in Vallodolid to die in recent days.
Officials are also investigating whether the heat took a deadly turn in Italy, after the body of a 72-year-old homeless man was found near a train station in Milan on Thursday morning, according to BBC News. Temperatures have been soaring past 33 C (into the 90s F) daily since Monday.
Amid the heat, hundreds of firefighters are battling a major wildfire near Tarragona in northeastern Spain. About 10,000 acres of forest and vegetation are being threatened by the blaze, which has been described by regional government officials as one of the worst in 20 years. More than 50 people have been evacuated.
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CNN reports that the fire may have been started by an "improperly managed" pile of manure that self-combusted, similar to the threat that wet hay bales pose.
Firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire in Palma d'Ebre, near Tarragona, Spain, on Thursday, June 27, 2019. Authorities suspect the cause of the outbreak was a deposit of improperly stored manure. (AP Photo/Jordi Borras)
The extreme heat wave continues to be one for the record books across Europe with daily, June and all-time temperatures records broken.
Earlier this week, all-time June record highs were set in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
Coschen station (Berlin-Brandenburg) reached 38.6 C (101.5 F) in Germany. The all-time highest temperature ever recorded in Germany remains 40.3 C (104.5 F), set in Kitzingen on Aug. 7, 2015.
Temperatures soared to 38.2 C (100.8 F) at Radzyń, Poland, on Wednesday, while Doksany in the Czech Republic, recorded a high of 38.9 C (102.0 F).
A total of 137 stations out of 150 with at least 30 years of data set daily record highs on Wednesday in the Czech Republic. Out of those stations, 41 broke June records for their individual locations.
More than half of the stations in Switzerland recorded new all-time June temperatures on Wednesday.
While data for Friday is still being calculated, the average temperature across all of France was 27.9 C (82.2 F) on Thursday, the highest value recorded in all of June.
In Spain, Madrid's Airport was among the locations that recorded all-time June temperatures across the nation on Thursday.
Kenneth from the Donegal Weather Channel
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