London (AFP) – Temperatures hit record highs for May in Britain, Ireland and France on Monday, as forecasters warned of a prolonged period of extreme heat across Europe throughout the week.
Issued on: 25/05/2026 - FRANCE24
Britain recorded its highest ever May temperature on Monday © Adrian DENNIS / AFPA so-called "heat dome" of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer.
Temperatures in Spain were expected to peak later this week at 38C, while parts of Italy imposed restrictions on working outdoors.
In the United Kingdom, the Met Office weather agency said it was the hottest May day on record, with temperatures hitting 34.8C at Kew Gardens, southwest London -- a full two degrees above the previous high.
"This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid-summer, let alone May," it said on X.
"The weather here, it's like a mini version of hell. It's boiling. It's like really hot," said 10-year-old Liza Nizari on a visit to London, where temperatures normally average about 17C or 18C at this time of year.
Lindy Brand-Daloze, a 66-year-old Australian living in London for 12 years, said: "It's warm, but it's climate change, isn't it? So, you know, (we have) probably got to get used to this."
Scientists say human-induced climate change is making extreme weather events like heatwaves, droughts and floods more intense, resulting in temperature records being broken more frequently.
Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst told AFP the increase in extreme temperatures was "a good indication of climate change in action" and more likely to become "the new norm".
Climate advisers last week warned the UK government that the country was "built for a climate that no longer exists" and urged it to adapt infrastructure like schools and hospitals for a warming planet.
In 2022, temperatures in the UK soared above 40C for the first time since records began.
A record May temperature of 28.8C was recorded at two weather stations in Ireland: Killarney in the southwest and Clonmel in the south, Met Eireann data showed.
A grass fire broke out near Arthur's Seat hill near Edingburgh, sending smoke over the Scottish city that saw temperatures climbe to 25C, according to fire fighters and the BBC.
Heatwave alert
Across the Channel, weather agency Meteo-France said "dozens" of temperature records were broken in several French cities, as it placed eight western regions under a heatwave alert.
The exceptionally high temperatures were expected to last until the weekend.
On Monday, the western town of Bergerac recorded a high of 34.7C, with the cities of Nantes and Angers not far behind.
On Tuesday, heat of between 32C and 35C was expected across much of the western region of Brittany, "with peaks of 36C or even 37C expected in the south of the country", Meteo-France said.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was to hold a meeting Thursday with key ministers to go over government preparations for the heatwave.
The capital, Paris, on Saturday notched up its first temperature above 30C of the year, hitting 31.9C.
On Sunday, a man died during a 10-kilometre running race in Paris, civil defence services said, while 10 more had to be taken to hospital in critical condition after a race in the capital's suburb of Maisons-Alfort, the authorities said.
The sweltering heat on Monday melted tennis fans at Roland-Garros in Paris.
Loick Labrousse, whose nose was daubed with sunblock, took refuge in a coffee stand.
"The sun is brutal right on top of the centre court," he said. "After two hours, it starts to get really intense".
Outdoor work restricted
In Spain, the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) warned the "extraordinarily high temperatures for this time of year" will continue across the country all week, except in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, off the northwest coast of Africa.
"Widespread tropical nights" are also forecast in southwestern Spain from Wednesday, with temperatures peaking from Wednesday to Friday at between 36C and 38C, it wrote on X.
Farther east, Italy's Lazio region, which includes Rome, on Monday approved rules limiting work in conditions "with prolonged exposure in the sun" between 12:30 pm and 4:00 pm.
Similar rules had been put in place last year but only from May 30.
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© 2026 AFP
France experienced record high temperatures for May over the weekend, according to the country’s national weather service, with Paris recording this year's first temperature above 30C on Saturday. A spokesperson for Meteo France added that a yellow heatwave alert issued Sunday was the very first “to be issued in May since the system was created in 2004".
Issued on: 25/05/2026 -
By: FRANCE 24
02:06
France faced unusually hot weather on Monday, the national weather service said, after enduring record high temperatures for a month of May at the weekend.
In the northwestern city of Rennes, 74-year-old Daniele Dupont tried to stick to the shade as she walked her dog in 27C on Monday morning
"I'm going to close the shutters. I won't be going out this afternoon," she said in the capital of the Brittany region, across the Channel from the United Kingdom.
Parts of Brittany were under a so-called yellow heatwave alert, urging caution, for a second day on Monday.
A Meteo France spokeswoman said that the warning first issued for Sunday was "the first yellow heatwave alert to be issued in May since the system was created in 2004".
On Sunday "record high maximum temperatures for the month of May" were felt in at least 10 locations, including the northwestern seaside towns of Lorient and Noirmoutier, Meteo France said.
Paris on Saturday notched up its first temperature above 30C of the year, hitting 31.9C.
A man died during a 10km running race in Paris on Sunday, civil defence services said. Local newspaper Le Parisien reported he was 53 years old and suffered a heart attack.
Ten more runners had to be taken to hospital in critical condition after a race in the capital's suburb of Maisons-Alfort, the authorities said.
In Rennes, Bernard Siffert, 66, wasn't taking any chances.
"I went for a run yesterday and did 15km at 7am instead of 10am like I usually do," he said.
01:56
Scientists say that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming and that these heatwaves are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Hottest May day ever recorded in UK as London hits 34.8 degrees
25.05.2026,
London (PA Media/dpa) -The UK has recorded its all-time hottest meteorological spring temperature as part of London hit 34.8 degrees Celcius.
The provisional reading at Kew Gardens, south-west London, broke the highest May temperature that, until Monday, stood at 32.8 degrees reached in 1922 and 1944, the Met Office said at around 5 pm (1600 GMT).
Temperature records are usually broken by just tenths of a degree.
It is also 10 to 15 degrees hotter than average for much of the UK, the forecasters’ senior meteorologist Greg Dewhurst reported.
If validated, the latest record means seven of the 12 monthly highs have been set since 2003, the Met Office said.
It listed 12 locations where the record was topped on Monday, ranging from Suffolk to Berkshire to Warwickshire.
A previous study by the forecasters found breaking that record “is around three times more likely now in our current climate than it would have been in a natural climate not impacted by greenhouse gas emissions.”
This means that the once one-in-a-hundred year event is now a one-in-33 event, it said.
Parts of central and southern England face further forecasts of up to 36 degrees on Tuesday as heatwaves continue.
It comes after last week saw lows of minus 5 degrees in Scotland and daytime temperatures more widely peaked at about 14 degrees to 15 degrees.
“We see these changes happening so much more dramatically,” Dewhurst said on Monday morning, adding that climate change is boosting the heat.
“In the past, heatwaves built and built and built and built over days and days and days – these now just develop so quickly.
“It’s huge sort of swinging temperatures, and obviously records being broken by day and by night, so it just shows sort of how extreme the weather can change, and how quickly it can change, as well.”
As a result of climate change, all meteorological models are predicting “more extreme heat, more extreme weather events” and “hotter, drier summers – wetter, windier winters”, he added.
Amid the bank holiday weekend heat, South East Water apologised and handed out bottled water after about 502 of its customers had issues including outages and low pressure.
Meanwhile, fire and smoke spread across a large patch of Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, above St Anthony’s degreeshapel on Monday.
Wales also provisionally beat its May record as Hawarden Airport reached 32.2 degrees, with the previous peak measured at 30.6 degrees in 1944.
The UK’s warmest May night was also recorded on Sunday when temperatures did not fall below 19.4 degrees at Kenley Airfield, Surrey.
The month’s previous record low was 18.9 degrees in 1944.
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