Brussels – Ireland, Spain, Italy, as well as France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and others: at this very moment, millions of European citizens are experiencing temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, which are highly unusual for May. Today (27 May), as many as 16 Italian provincial capitals are on orange alert, the second level of heatwave warning, as set out by the Italian Ministry of Health. This level indicates weather conditions that may pose a health risk, particularly for the most vulnerable sections of the population, for whom the Ministry of Health advises against exposure to sunlight during the hottest hours (between 11 am and 6 pm). The only level exceeding this in intensity is level 3, the highest level, which, incidentally, is forecast for tomorrow in four Italian cities: Bologna, Florence, Rome, and Turin. In these cities, conditions may arise that pose a risk not only to the most vulnerable but also to the healthy population.
However, this heatwave is not a phenomenon confined to Italy alone. As reported by the Italian Air Force, Europe is currently under the influence of a persistent high-pressure system, with air masses of Atlantic and African origin extending across much of the continent and the central-western Mediterranean. This situation will result in rainfall significantly below the seasonal average, accompanied by a marked rise in temperatures, well above the typical values for this time of year.
The Irish Meteorological Service, Met Éireann, believes the country rewrote “its own climate history” on 25 May, recording a new national record for the highest temperature in May. At Shannon Airport on the west coast, temperatures reached 28.6 °C, surpassing the previous record set in 1997, while other monitoring stations reported even more extreme provisional peaks, reaching 29.2 °C in Glengarriff in the south-west of the country. This heatwave is therefore not an isolated phenomenon, but is affecting the whole of north-western Europe, which is currently trapped under a powerful “heat dome”. This is an exceptionally strong high-pressure system extending across the various layers of the atmosphere, causing the air to be compressed and gradually heated. France, Belgium and the UK also broke their national May temperature records on the same day, with forecasts indicating a further rise in temperatures. According to Met Éireann climatologist Paul Moore, the intensity of these events is fuelled by global warming, which is making heatwaves more frequent and severe: although Ireland benefits from the moderating influence of the Atlantic, Europe as a whole is warming at twice the global average rate.
France too finds itself in the grip of an exceptional heatwave, with the national weather service extending the orange alert to as many as 13 departments, where it is not only the sweltering heat that is causing concern for the authorities, but also the drastic deterioration in air quality. The same is true of the Iberian Peninsula, which is particularly hard- hit by the heatwave: the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has confirmed extremely high alert levels for 27 May 2026. The most alarming situation concerns the inland area of Bizkaia, in the Basque Country, where an orange alert has been issued for “significant danger” due to maximum temperatures that could reach 37 °C, with a higher probability of these peaks occurring in low-lying areas. However, the highest temperature of the day is expected in the Vegas del Guadiana in central-western Spain, with a forecast maximum of 38 °C.
A situation that is claiming lives: as of last night (26 May), France recorded 7 heat-related deaths, the UK 5, and Germany 7. Last year, according to a study conducted by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Imperial College London, the summer heatwave in Europe caused around 16,500 additional deaths across 854 cities, with Italy recording the highest number at 4,500.
Europe, the continent warming the fastest in the world
In all this, it is worth noting that Europe is the continent warming fastest on Earth. According to the report European State of the Climate (ESOTC) del 2025, published by Copernicus (C3S)—the European Earth observation and monitoring programme—and produced by the ECMWF—the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts—over 95 per cent of European territory recorded above-average temperatures last year: the continent experienced its second-most intense heatwave on record, while usually frigid regions such as sub-Arctic Fennoscandia (the region comprising the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland) faced their longest period of heat ever recorded. These figures translate into environmental impacts described as “devastating”: emissions and areas burnt by wildfires reached record levels, particularly on the Iberian Peninsula, while 86 per cent of European seas were affected by marine heatwaves classified as “strong”, pushing surface temperatures to record highs. The report also highlights an “alarming” decline in the cryosphere (the permanently snow- and ice-covered areas of the globe): all European glaciers have suffered a net loss of mass, and Greenland alone has lost 139 gigatonnes of ice. Biodiversity is also under threat: Posidonia oceanica seagrass beds in the Mediterranean and peatlands are suffering from extreme heat stress, risking a shift from carbon sinks to carbon sources.
