FRANCE CLOSES SCHOOLS AS HEATWAVE INTENSIFIES ACROSS EUROPE

France closed 845 schools on Monday with a further 1,800 set to release students early as a heatwave intensified across much of Europe. The number of French departments under red alert weather warnings rose to 49 from 35 over the weekend. Several towns cancelled annual music festivals, and the government banned alcohol consumption in public places in departments under red alert on health and public order grounds. France recorded heat-related deaths over the weekend, with local officials in the Gironde region stating that three deaths of people aged between 80 and 95 were in part due to the intense heat.

France and Belgium announced cuts to rail services to reduce the risk of track damage from extreme temperatures. France reduced commuter lines in and around Paris, whilst Belgium's national rail company SNCB cancelled some rush hour trains for Monday and Tuesday. David Dehenauw, head of forecasting at the IRM meteorological institute, warned that temperatures in Belgium are expected to be "the hottest ever recorded" there in the coming week. Some parts of France recorded temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, described as extreme for June. Mathieu Lefevre, France's junior minister for ecology, characterised the heatwave as "particularly intense and particularly early".

French forecasters stated the current heatwave could prove as serious as the August 2003 event that resulted in nearly 15,000 deaths in France. Akshay Deoras, a senior researcher at the University of Reading's National Centre for Atmospheric Science, stated that human-driven climate change had contributed to recent record-breaking heatwaves. In May, several European countries reported record temperatures for that time of year, according to available reports.