Europe hit by its second heatwave, worsening this weekend

Summer is starting in an extreme way for tens of millions of Europeans, with a new wave of heatwave linked to climate change which hits the Old Continent on Friday, from Spain to the United Kingdom, and will intensify this weekend, particularly in France.

This is the second heat wave to hit Western Europe in less than a month. Alert levels have been high in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain.

In France, two-thirds of the departments will be on orange alert on Saturday, including Paris, a situation which has led cities to cancel the Music Festival scheduled for Sunday, with its very popular street concerts across the country.

The heat episode promises to be "widespread, lasting and intense", warns Météo-France.

The "remarkable heatwave peak" is expected between Sunday and Tuesday, with "peaks of 40°C in particular in the West and the Center", anticipates the national forecaster. Nearly two out of three French people are now affected by this episode.

France was already hit in May by unprecedented temperatures, as elsewhere in Europe. This is the “clear sign of climate change”, underlines Matthieu Sorel, climatologist at Météo-France.

Climate change, fueled by increasing consumption of coal, oil and gas, is causing these heat waves to occur more often and earlier in the year.

President Emmanuel Macron called for “taking care of the oldest, the most vulnerable” because “these are difficult days”.

Schools are organizing themselves with canceled classes, rearranged timetables, groupings in the coolest rooms.

Especially since this intense climatic episode occurs during the baccalaureate exams, the end-of-secondary exam.

In Paris, the police headquarters recommended the cancellation of outdoor sporting events.

- "We're suffocating" -

Far from rural areas, the episode is particularly difficult for working-class neighborhoods and their large buildings, overexposed to the phenomenon of "kettle housing", warned the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged on Thursday.

Léria, 32, a housewife in the towers of Nanterre, near Paris, sums up the situation: “We are suffocating”.

A new heatwave is set to begin in the UK this weekend before a peak expected on Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures forecast at 34°C or more, according to the Met office.

An orange heatwave alert has been issued for Monday and Tuesday across much of southern England, including London.

The record for the highest temperature ever recorded in June - 35.6°C, reached in 1957 and 1976 - could be surpassed early next week, according to the Met office.

In Spain, authorities have issued an alert for an extreme heat wave expected to affect most of the