Germany hits 41.5C as heatwave shatters records across
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- Germany's German Weather Service recorded 41.5C in Drewitz, Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, beating the record of 41.3C set the day before in Saarbrücken, while Berlin hit its own record of 39.2C at Tempelhof.
- Berlin police deployed two water cannons — typically used for riot control — to mist crowds at Brandenburg Gate and other public spaces, using 9,000 liters of water in two deployments, per Der Tagesspiegel.
- Denmark recorded its highest temperature since measurements began in 1874, with the Danish Meteorological Institute reporting 37C north of Aarhus and 36.6C north of Odense on Saturday.
- Five people drowned in UK open water during the heatwave, including a 15-year-old at Testwood Lakes near Southampton, 22-year-old Brody Leach in the River Severn at Shrewsbury, and a 69-year-old man in Clacton.
- Slovakia confirmed Friday night was its warmest on record at 26.3C, while Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Moldova all issued red alerts for extreme heat through midweek.
- Swiss glaciers are expected to reach 'glacier loss day' by Monday — when all winter snow has melted — the second-earliest arrival on record after 2022, according to Glamos head Matthias Huss.
- Deutsche Bahn advised against non-essential travel as 11 German motorways suffered heat buckling, while 700+ flights were delayed and 99 cancelled at London Heathrow and Gatwick amid thunderstorms.
Why it matters: Europe's transport, energy, and emergency infrastructure is buckling under temperatures scientists say would have been 'virtually impossible' without human-caused climate change, with night-time lows made 100 times more likely than two decades ago. Germany — Europe's biggest economy and largest emitter — now faces political pressure as Fridays for Future activists demand an end to coal reliance.
