Europe’s summer from hell seems over – but is it really?

Summer is officially over in Europe – and for millions of people, this may be remembered as the year when extreme weather stopped feeling particularly unusual.

Western Europe endured an extraordinary succession of heatwaves, drought, wildfires, and water shortages. Temperatures repeatedly climbed above 40C (104F), rivers fell to historic lows, and crops withered.

Then, in some places, the drought ended not with gentle rain but violent storms and flash flooding.
France, the UK, and Belgium all recorded their hottest summers on record.

So, was 2026 simply an exceptionally unlucky summer?

Scientists increasingly say no.

How hot was it?

France averaged 24C across June, July, and August, 3.6C above the 1991-2020 norm. The previous record, set during the deadly summer of 2003, was 2.7C above normal.

The country endured three official heatwaves totaling an unprecedented 53 days. Some 45% of France experienced temperatures of at least 40C at some point during the summer.

Britain, hardly famous for scorching summers, recorded a seasonal mean temperature of 16.5C – the highest since national records began in 1884. Temperatures peaked at 38.1C at London’s Kew Gardens, while 54 weather stations operated by the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, broke their all-time maximum records.

Across Western Europe, June and July were the hottest on record, with the average temperature reaching 21.62C – 2.79C above the 1991-2020 norm, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

How deadly was it?

Extreme heat can worsen heart, respiratory, and kidney problems, meaning its health impact is often measured through excess mortality rather than deaths explicitly attributed to heat.

In France, the national public health agency estimated almost 5,800 excess deaths from all causes during the June 17-July 2 heatwave, 36% above the expected level in the affected areas. Another 1,243 excess deaths were recorded during heatwave periods between July 3 and 22.

The figures are preliminary and do not mean heat caused every additional death, but health officials said the sharp increases highlighted the impact of prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures.

Older people were particularly vulnerable: Those aged 75 and over accounted for roughly two-thirds of the excess deaths during France’s first heatwave.

From heat to drought – and fire

High-pressure weather kept much of Western Europe hot and dry for long periods, while the extreme heat dried out soils and vegetation even further.

This can reinforce the heat. Once soils dry, less water is available for evaporation, reducing the natural cooling of the surface and allowing temperatures to rise further.

France received almost 40% less rainfall than normal, making 2026 its second-driest summer since 1959, while soil drought reached unprecedented levels nationwide.

Major European waterways also dropped sharply. Copernicus reported exceptionally low flows in the Seine, Rhine, and Danube, disrupting transport, irrigation, and energy production. 

Meanwhile, tinder-dry vegetation fueled wildfires. By early September, fires had affected more than 647,000 hectares in the EU, nearly twice the 20-year average for that point in the season, according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.

The economic cost

Agriculture was among the hardest-hit sectors.

In Britain, preliminary estimates suggested the country could be heading for its smallest harvest since detailed records began in 1984.

The impact also stretched across the EU. The European Commission has forecast the bloc’s maize harvest at a near 20-year low, following severe heat and water shortages in major growing regions.

France announced more than €1 billion ($1.16 billion) in emergency assistance for farmers, with 30,000-35,000 farms reported to be in financial distress.

Germany’s grain harvest fell 7.3% from last year, according to the government’s preliminary report, which blamed drought and heat for crop losses and severe feed shortages in parts of the country.

Low rivers also disrupted shipping and industry, particularly along the Rhine, where companies were forced to reduce cargo loads or switch to more expensive road and rail transport.

How can drought and floods happen together?

A warmer atmosphere can hold roughly 7% more water vapor for every 1C of warming, providing more moisture for intense rainfall when storms develop.

At the same time, prolonged heat can leave some soils so dry that, under certain conditions, intense rain falls faster than the ground can absorb it, increasing runoff and flash-flood risk.

Northern Italy demonstrated the abrupt shift in August, when weeks of extreme heat were followed by torrential rain and flooding in Liguria, Lombardy, and northern Tuscany. 

France also experienced violent thunderstorms. On August 24, more than 20,000 lightning strikes were recorded alongside intense rain, hail, and powerful winds.

When the heat got weird

The extreme temperatures produced some unusual scenes across Europe.

In Belgium, young birds were reported jumping from nests to escape temperatures of up to 50-60C beneath roofs. One wildlife rescue center said it was receiving more than 40 heat-stressed animals a day as swifts, swallows, sparrows, and starlings struggled with the conditions.

Zoos resorted to creative ways of keeping animals cool. Prague Zoo brought in tons of ice for its polar bears and other animals, while Rome Zoo served frozen fruit, vegetables, and fish and moved some heat-sensitive species into climate-controlled areas.

Infrastructure also suffered. In Germany, sections of the A2 motorway buckled in the heat, while melting asphalt around tram tracks disrupted services in Leipzig. In Sweden, heat was blamed for warping railway tracks into a so-called “sun curve,” causing a freight train to derail.

The heat even interfered with history. In Belgium, organizers canceled a reenactment of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo because temperatures were considered too dangerous for participants and spectators.

Is this the new normal?

Not quite – yet.

The UK Met Office estimates that a summer as hot as 2026 would have had a less than one-in-1,000 annual chance in a climate without human greenhouse-gas emissions. In today’s environment, the probability is roughly one in nine – making such a summer about 130 times more likely.

Meteo-France reached a similar conclusion. It estimates that around 2.4C of the difference between summer 2026 and an average pre-industrial national summer was attributable to human-caused climate change.

Europe will still experience cooler and wetter summers. Natural weather variability has not disappeared, and no one can say whether 2027 will repeat this year’s extremes.

But the odds are shifting. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense, while higher temperatures can worsen drought, wildfire conditions, and extreme rainfall.

Summer 2026 therefore may not be remembered simply as Europe’s summer from hell.

It may eventually be remembered as the summer when an extreme future briefly arrived early.