A warmth wave gripping elements of Europe despatched temperatures over 109.4 levels Fahrenheit — 40 levels Celsius — in southern France and the Western Balkans on Monday, fueling wildfires and triggering top-level climate alerts in a number of international locations throughout what scientists warn is the world’s fastest-warming continent.
Fires burned in France’s Aude wine area, alongside Bulgaria’s southern borders, close to Montenegro’s capital and coast, and in Turkey’s northwest — and Hungary recorded record-breaking weekend temperatures.
2025 is predicted to be the second or third warmest yr on file, in accordance with the U.Ok.-based Carbon Temporary. The acute warmth in Europe suits that world sample, however the continent is heating far sooner than the remainder of the world.
Land temperatures have risen about 2.3 C above pre-industrial ranges, practically twice the worldwide common, intensifying warmth waves and driving file fireplace seasons.
With main outbreaks in Spain, Portugal and lethal blazes in Greece since late June, the burned space is already far above the seasonal norm.
France on excessive alert
On Monday, the French nationwide climate authority, Météo-France, positioned 12 departments on purple alert, the nation’s highest warmth warning, anticipating distinctive warmth stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean plains. Forty-one different departments had been below lower-level orange alerts, as was the neighboring microstate of Andorra, between France and Spain.
“Don’t be fooled — this isn’t ‘normal, it’s summer.’ It’s not normal, it’s a nightmare,” agricultural climatologist Serge Zaka instructed broadcaster BFMTV from Montauban in France’s Tarn-et-Garonne division, the place the blistering warmth pressed relentlessly all through the day.
A girl with a umbrella walks previous a docked vacationer boats on the Garonne river financial institution in the midst of the day in Toulouse, southwestern France on Aug. 11, 2025.
LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP through Getty Photographs
Social media photos confirmed shuttered streets in Valence, residents shielding home windows with foil to replicate the sunshine, and vacationers huddling below umbrellas alongside the Garonne in Toulouse. Throughout the south, café terraces stood empty as individuals sought cooler corners indoors.
In France’s Aude division, a patchwork of vineyards and Mediterranean scrubland, a whole bunch of firefighters remained within the rolling wine nation guarding the perimeters of a large, lethal blaze that scorched 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) final week. Officers say the hearth is below management however warn it is not going to be absolutely extinguished for weeks, with scorching spots nonetheless smoldering and vulnerable to reigniting.
The stays of a home destroyed by a current wildfire is seen within the charred panorama on Aug. 9, 2025 in Jonquieres, France.
Getty Photographs
The purple alert in France has been issued solely eight occasions because it was created in 2004 after a lethal summer season the yr earlier than. It’s reserved for excessive, extended warmth with main well being dangers and the potential to disrupt each day life. The designation provides native officers powers to cancel out of doors occasions, shut public venues and alter faculty or summer season camp schedules.
The warmth wave, France’s second of the summer season, started Friday and is predicted to final all week, carrying into the Aug. 15 vacation weekend. It’s already pushing northward, with 38 C, or 100.4 F, forecast within the Centre-Val de Loire area and as much as 34 C, or 93.2 F, in Paris.
Warmth well being alerts in U.Ok.
Throughout the English Channel, the U.Ok. Well being Safety Company issued a number of warmth well being alerts, which goal to offer an early warning when temperatures are more likely to affect the inhabitants’s well being and well-being. Some alerts had been yellow whereas others had been upgraded to amber, which is one stage beneath the very best stage, purple. The alerts will likely be in impact Tuesday and Wednesday.
It is going to be the nation’s fourth warmth wave this summer season.
A person sits within the solar at a park in London as elements of the UK face a warmth wave, Aug. 11, 2025.
Kin Cheung/AP
Western Balkans
Montenegro reported wildfires close to the capital Podgorica and alongside the Adriatic coast, prompting pressing appeals for assist from neighboring international locations. Households had been evacuated from an space north of the capital as military models labored to guard the ruins of the traditional metropolis of Duklja.
Senior emergency official Nikola Bojanovic described the scenario as “catastrophic,” with sturdy winds driving the flames. Authorities urged residents to preserve consuming water to keep away from restrictions.
Fires additionally burned above Canj, a preferred coastal resort.
Smoke rises from bushes burning in a wildfire close to Montenegro’s capital of Podgorica, Aug. 11, 2025.
Risto Bozovic/AP
Bosnia’s southern metropolis of Mostar reached 43 C, which is 109 F, whereas Croatia’s Dubrovnik hit 34 C, or 93 F, within the morning.
“It’s too hot, this is not normal,” mentioned Fatima Safro, a resident of Mostar. “It’s very hot even during the night.”
In Serbia, farmers on Suva Planina mountain renewed appeals for emergency water provides for livestock after streams and ponds dried up.
Most fireplace hazard alerts in Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, temperatures had been anticipated to exceed 40 C, or 104 F, Monday on the day’s peak, with most fireplace hazard alerts in place.
Practically 200 fires have been reported; most have been introduced below management, localized and extinguished, however the scenario stays “very challenging,” mentioned Alexander Dzhartov, head of the nationwide fireplace security unit. Three main blazes proceed alongside the borders with Greece and Turkey, together with one close to Strumyani that reignited after three weeks.
Greater than 100 firefighters and emergency personnel are battling flames in rugged terrain unreachable by autos, supported by military helicopters and two Swedish plane.
Evacuations in Turkey
In Turkey, a wildfire fueled by excessive temperatures and powerful winds pressured authorities to evacuate vacation properties and a college campus and to droop maritime site visitors within the nation’s northwest.
The hearth broke out in an agricultural discipline within the province of Canakkale and unfold into surrounding forestland, simply two days after firefighting groups had contained an identical blaze within the space. Canakkale Gov. Omer Toraman mentioned the Dardanelles Strait — the slim waterway linking the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara — was closed to permit water-dropping planes and helicopters to function safely.
A view of injury as firefighter groups proceed their efforts to extinguish the hearth that broke out within the forest space in Kepez space on Aug. 11, 2025 in Canakkale, Turkiye.
Sevi Gozay Ugurlu/Anadolu through Getty Photographs
Hungary data record-breaking warmth
Sunday introduced a brand new nationwide excessive of 39.9 C, or 104 F, on Sunday in southeast Hungary, breaking a file set in 1948. Budapest additionally recorded a metropolis file at 38.7 C, or 101.6 F.
Authorities imposed a nationwide fireplace ban amid excessive warmth and drought.
