Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, the European Union's satellite agency said Tuesday.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) program revealed the continent's average temperature for the month was 2 degrees Celsius hotter than normal.
"Although this was exceptional, we are likely to see more of these events in the future due to climate change," C3S head Jean-Noel Thepaut said.
Germany experienced temperatures as high as 38.9 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit), an all-time high for June.
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Europe melts under heat wave
New record in France
A pharmacy sign in Carpentras, a village in southeastern France, which shortly held the country's all-time heat record of 44.3 degrees on Friday. The record was topped again later in the afternoon in the southern village of Villevieille, 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the east, which measured a thermometer-busting 45.1 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).
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Europe melts under heat wave
Scorched forests in Catalonia, Spain
Local authorities said that improperly stored chicken dung at a farm in rural northeastern Spain spontaneously combusted in the extreme heat on Wednesday, unleashing a wildfire that continued to burn on into Friday. Temperatures in the area around the fire reached 41 Celsius on Friday (106 Fahrenheit), as more than 600 firefighters battle the blaze.
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Europe melts under heat wave
Hot in the city of love
Denizens of Paris cool down in the Trocadero esplanade. Pavement absorbs heat and takes longer to cool off, which makes cities feel even hotter during a heat wave. Air conditioning is also uncommon in many cities in northern Europe, which can make being indoors unbearable, as buildings trap the heat. A 2003 heatwave in France killed 15,000 people.
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Europe melts under heat wave
Homeless at risk in Italy
A volunteer hands water to a homeless man in Milan, Italy, where the mercury has topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in recent days. A heat wave alert was issued Friday in Milan, and an elderly homeless man reportedly died from heatstroke in a park near city's main train station. The extreme temperatures in Italy are expected to ease over the weekend.
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Europe melts under heat wave
River bathing in Munich
Bathers lounge on the rocky banks of the Isar river in Munich on Thursday. Last weekend, dozens of women who were bathing topless on the Isar were ordered by police to cover up, sparking a debate on public nudity. Nude beaches are common throughout Germany. The banks of the Isar should be full this weekend, with temperatures in Munich expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).
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Europe melts under heat wave
Sorbet for polar bears
A polar bear cools off at the Hanover Zoo in Germany with a frozen sorbet. Zookeepers across Europe have been helping animals beat the heat with mixtures of fruit frozen in ice. Polar bears are also given frozen fish. On Thursday, France banned the transportation of live animals due to the extreme temperatures.
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Europe melts under heat wave
Sahara heat in Europe
A weather pattern that has stuck over Europe for almost a week is channeling extremely hot air from the Sahara desert northward. The World Meteorological Association said 2019 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record, and that heatwaves like the one currently scorching Europe are projected to happen more frequently.
More heat waves, humans responsible
In a separate study also published Tuesday, a group of experts who look at the possible link between extreme weather and climate change foresee more frequent and more intense heat waves in future.
After analyzing temperatures in Toulouse in southern France between June 26 and 28, the World Weather Attribution group concluded that every heat wave in Europe today "is made more likely and more intense by human-induced climate change."
Friederike Otto, acting director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University, said global warming probably amplified the hot spell in France by more than five times.
"Models are very good at representing large-scale seasonal changes in temperatures," she explained. "On localized scales, climate models tend to underestimate the increase in temperature."
Their report is yet to be peer-reviewed.
There seemed to be some respite for western and central Europe as the heat headed east on Tuesday with the Balkans region experiencing scorching temperatures.
jsi/se (AP, AFP, dpa)
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