climate.you · Case study
Back to the globeThe June 2026 heatwave over Europe
Between mid-June and mid-July 2026, Europe went through two spells of extreme heat: a dome that swept across the continent, then a second build-up over the southwest. This page shows where the heat sat, how it moved, and how far above the seasonal average it was.
Published
Mean 2 m air temperature over each window, shown as the difference from the 1991–2020 average for the same month: red is how far above normal it ran, not how hot it was. Copernicus ERA5/ERA5T.
Through the first half of June, temperatures across Western and Central Europe were close to the 1991–2020 average, and below it on several days. From 16 June the heat built quickly. By 26 June, the average across 15 major European cities was 9.0°C above the June norm.
The first spell was a single heat dome that moved. Its centre tracked from the southwest to the northeast over about ten days: Iberia around 20–22 June, France around 23–25, Central Europe and Italy around 27–29. It faded at the end of the month, ahead of a second spell in early July.
That second spell was not the tail of the first. After a two-day lull, a fresh build-up formed over France and Iberia, but not over Central Europe, which had cooled. Across 6–10 July Paris ran 6.8°C above the July norm, and the heat kept building: it crested on 12 July, when Paris reached 9.2°C above the norm, before easing the next day.
Daily anomaly, June–July 2026
Mean daily temperature across 15 major Western and Central European cities, each day against its own 1991–2020 monthly average. Two spells stand out, separated by an early-July lull.
Cities included: Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Bordeaux, Lyon, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, Prague.