Europe Keeps Getting Hit by Deadly Heat Waves. Why Isn't It Ready?

Europe is in the middle of its worst heat wave ever recorded, and it is causing real harm. France just had its hottest day and night in history. The United Kingdom and Switzerland both broke their June temperature records. Hospitals, schools, and railways have been thrown into chaos as the extreme heat pushes the continent to its limits.

Scientist Pierre Masselot knows this danger well. He studies how heat affects people's health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in England. This week, he got a message from his daughter's nursery school — located less than 50 miles from where a UK June temperature record was broken — saying parents needed to pick up their children early because the buildings were too hot. For Masselot, it was a reminder of the terrible summer of 2003, when a brutal heat wave killed around 70,000 people across Europe.

Back in 2003, Masselot was a teenager from southern France playing basketball outside at summer camp. He was young and healthy, so the heat did not threaten his life. But many older people, especially women and those who lived alone, were not so lucky. Hot days stressed their bodies, and warm nights kept them from getting the rest they needed to recover. That summer became one of the deadliest in European history.

Now Masselot is 37 years old, and he says the extreme heat that once felt rare is becoming normal. 'Climate scientists have been saying for a long time we'll have a lot more 2003s,' he said. 'Now it's become painfully obvious this is the case.' Scientists warn that by the time his young daughter is a teenager, global temperatures will have risen well past the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit that world leaders promised to stay under. That means future heat waves could be even worse than what Europe is seeing today.

Europe has tried to do better since 2003. Governments set up early warning systems that kick in when temperatures rise dangerously high. These systems tell hospitals to cancel non-urgent visits, tell schools to close, and warn people to stay inside. Studies show these efforts have helped — one found that if a heat wave as strong as 2003's hit today, about 75% fewer people would die.

But the heat is also getting worse faster than people are preparing for it. This year, a record-breaking heat wave in May arrived before summer even started, shocking many countries across northwest Europe. Just two weeks after the World Health Organization updated its heat guidelines, the German capital Berlin was facing temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius. The WHO says Europe has lost around 200,000 lives to heat over the past four years, and calls most of those deaths 'entirely preventable.'

Scientists say climate change is heating Europe faster than any other continent on Earth. A new study found that this week's heat wave would have been 'virtually impossible' just 50 years ago. The dangerously hot overnight temperatures seen this week are about 100 times more likely now than they were in 2003. Researchers confirmed the cause is carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels — not a natural weather pattern called El Niño.

Climate scientist Friederike Otto says she is frustrated that the same warnings keep being ignored. 'There's a sad inevitability to all of this, with scientists like me trotting out the same quotes year after year,' she said. She and other scientists say the world needs to stop burning fossil fuels much more quickly to avoid even worse disasters in the future.

Health experts say cities need more shade, more parks, and better-designed buildings that stay cooler naturally. Some experts worry that putting air conditioning everywhere could cause power blackouts and make cities even hotter overall. However, most agree that hospitals, care homes, schools, and public transport do need air conditioning to protect the most vulnerable people. The WHO says air conditioning is 'not a sustainable societal solution' but 'remains crucial' for those most at risk.

For Masselot, growing up in southern France meant summers spent indoors with all the shutters closed. He believes people have learned some lessons about heat over the years, but worries those lessons are forgotten too quickly. 'Sometimes it feels as soon as the summer has ended, we forget about it,' he said. As temperatures keep rising, scientists say Europe cannot afford to keep making that mistake.