Europe’s heatwave is not over yet, with temperatures across the UK this weekend forecast to remain at an average of about 27C (80.6F), and highs of 31C a possibility in London.
Alex Burkill, a British meteorologist, said that despite the cooler temperatures of recent days “it is not the end of the hot weather for the summer” as sunshine returns to most of the country.
Eight places in Portugal broke local temperature records on Friday as a wave of heat from North Africa swept across the Iberian peninsula and officials predicted the scorching temperatures could get even worse over the weekend.
Temperatures built to around 45C (113 F) in many inland areas of Portugal, and were expected to peak at 47C (116.6F) in some places on Saturday. Large sections of Portugal are on red alert on the country’s civil protection agency’s danger scale.
The highest temperature recorded on Thursday, when the heat began to rise, was 45.2 C (113.4 F) near Abrantes, a town 150km north-east of the capital, Lisbon.
In Spain three men died of heatstroke. A middle-aged man in Barcelona was found collapsed on a street and taken to hospital where he later died. Two other men – a roadworker in his 40s and a 78-year-old pensioner – also died from heatstroke.
Heat warnings were also issued for 41 of the country’s 50 provinces as temperatures were expected to reach up to 44C . Spain’s highest recorded temperature is 46.9C in Cordoba, a southern city, in July 2017.
Weather experts are saying the highest temperature ever recorded in continental Europe – 48C in Athens in 1977 – could be topped this weekend.
This year, Sweden has had its hottest July in 250 years, and while meteorologists were forecasting cooler temperatures and thunderstorms across the country on Saturday there may be no return to heights in excess of 2,000m for the Kebnekaise mountain, whose shrinkage has raised concerns about the rapid pace of climate change.
