Exceptionally early heat wave shatters records and brings deaths in Europe

LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom smashed a century-old temperature record for the second time in 24 hours on Tuesday as a spring heat wave scorches parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down.

A temperature of 35.1 degrees Celsius (95.2 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded at London's Kew Gardens, Britain's Met Office weather service said, breaking the 34.8 C (94.6 F) record set a day earlier at Kew. The provisional readings smashed the long-standing record of 32.8 C (91.4 F) set in 1922 and matched in 1944.

London also recorded a rare “tropical night,” defined as one in which the temperature does not fall below 20 C (68 F).

Records also fell in France, where temperatures reached 36 C (97 F) on Monday in the country's southwest and widely remained above 20 C at night.

The national weather service, Météo-France, said a “heat dome,” with heat held in place by a high-pressure weather front, was producing temperatures more than 10 degrees Celsius above what is usual for this time of year.

Unpredictable and extreme weather is becoming more frequent as Earth warms. Experts say unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger.

“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that heat wave events such as this have been made more likely and more severe due to climate change arising from our emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases,” said Peter Thorne, director of the ICARUS Climate Research Centre, at Maynooth University, in Ireland.

“But, nevertheless, many of the records being set, particularly in the U.K. and France, are mind-bogglingly crazy,” he said.

After a long weekend that sent people in Britain flocking to beaches, pools and shady parks, London commuters sweltered on Tuesday in subway carriages without air conditioning. Trains to and from the busy Waterloo station were disrupted by a report of smoke on the tracks.

In Scotland, firefighters worked through the night to douse a grass fire that sent smoke billowing from Arthur’s Seat, the rocky hill that looms over Edinburgh.

The U.K. Health Security Agency issued an amber health alert for large parts of the country through Thursday, warning of a potential health risk, particularly among older people, at the hottest times of the day. The U.K. is used to moderate temperatures and many homes, schools and businesses do not have air conditioning.

At least four teenagers died in apparent drownings in U.K. lakes and reservoirs, and a 60-year-old man died in the sea in southwest England, authorities said.

French government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said there have been reports of at least seven deaths potentially related to high temperatures, including five drownings and two deaths in sports competitions.

The early heat wave has struck before the annual summer window when lifeguards watch over bathers at popular beaches, increasing risks.

On France’s Atlantic seaboard, where magnificent beaches have powerful riptides, officials reported a rash of emergencies in the surf, with two drowning deaths on Sunday at popular resorts in the Gironde region in the southwest.

The top regional administrator, Sophie Brocas, urged beachgoers “to exercise the utmost caution.”

The unseasonable heat extended to Spain, where weather service spokesperson Rubén del Campo said: “We find ourselves with temperatures we normally see in the middle of the summer now in the month of May.”

He said Seville hit 38 C (100 F) over the weekend, while large parts of the Iberian Peninsula saw temperatures 5 to 10 degrees Celsius higher than normal.

And in Rome, temperatures were expected to reach 32 C (89.6 F) on Tuesday.

Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

A man drinks outside the Palace of Westminster in London, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Swimmers keep cool in the hot weather in an open-air pool in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, Tuesday May 26, 2026. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

A view of the beach as people enjoy the hot weather in Brighton, East Sussex, England, Tuesday May 26, 2026. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)

People visit Bournemouth beach, south England, Monday May 25, 2026. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)

A woman shelters from the sun with a city guide in downtown Rome as temperatures are expected to reach 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A woman drinks water from a frozen bottle in downtown Rome as temperatures are expected to reach 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A man drinks water at a fountain in downtown Rome as temperatures are expected to reach 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

People enjoying the warm weather on Sunny Sands beach in Folkestone, England, Saturday May 23, 2026. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)

A speed boat passes by the Conciergerie along the Seine River during a sunny day in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

People seek relief from the heat along the Seine River in Paris, Monday, May 25, 2026. Artwork by street artist JR is seen on the Pont Neuf in the background. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

A man cools down with a bottle of water during the hot weather on Westminster Bridge, central London, England, Monday, May 25, 2026. (James Manning/PA via AP)

People visit Bournemouth beach, south England, Monday May 25, 2026. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron was set to address the nation Sunday after violent groups clashed with police and looted shops during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools, with at least 1,800 people arrested across France.

Macron held an emergency meeting with senior government officials, a day after masked groups set fires and attacked public buildings, including city halls, in several cities.

In the central town of Limoges, flames engulfed the 19th-century City Hall, causing its roof to collapse and nearly destroying the building.

Hundreds of protesters gathered again Sunday at the Place de la République in Paris amid a heavy police presence. Officers used tear gas as tensions flared sporadically in the neighborhood, with small groups of people trying to set bicycles and trash bins on fire.

“The right to protest is a fundamental right. Deliberately and collectively sowing disorder through violence is not,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote on X, citing the looting of hundreds of businesses in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux.

About 550,000 people took part in protests across France, according to authorities, while organizers put the figure at about 800,000. Demonstrators answered calls from a labor union, student organizations and activists hoping to revive the “yellow vest” movement, which emerged in 2018 to protest social injustice.

Mass protests in France are often marred by violence on the fringes of otherwise peaceful marches, leading to clashes with police. The arrest tally reported Sunday approached the nearly 2,000 recorded nationwide during a single day of yellow vest protests in December 2018.

One person died of a heart attack, Paris police said in a statement, without providing details. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it was investigating.

Dislodged cobblestones, shattered storefronts and broken glass littered the area around Paris’ Place de la République on Sunday. Looting and damage were also reported in other tourist and shopping districts.

Paris police said 855 people were arrested in the capital region. The city's prosecutor’s office said 557 remained in police custody.

“I am actually stunned by the level of destruction and violence that was expressed,” said government employee Marie Peyreigne, 57, wondering what had led to the mayhem.

Parisians inspecting the damage photographed the partially dismantled base of the square’s central monument, a statue of Marianne, a symbol of France.

Jean Foissy, 74, said he had wanted to join the protest but encountered “a wall of riot police and fires everywhere” and returned home.

“I was very scared,” he said. “I’ve been a Parisian since I was born, so when I got here, it almost made me want to cry because I find it so bad, it hurts me.”

Margaux Eude, 26, said she supported the protest movement but “didn’t think it would escalate like this.”

“It’s the troublemakers who came, and it breaks my heart because it delegitimizes the movement,” she said.

Political leaders across the spectrum sought to parlay the fallout of Saturday’s riots into political capital, looking ahead to next spring’s presidential election.

Far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen criticized Macron's centrist government as “exhausted, disoriented and seemingly incapable of doing anything other than commenting on its own powerlessness,” in a video posted Sunday on social media.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, accused Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu of “playing with fire,” alleging that “by banking on degradation, you have only succeeded in uniting all youths and workers’ unions.”

Mélenchon, who joined the Paris march Saturday, insisted that “my message is clear: those who share our fight have no business in looting or destruction.”

U.S. President Donald Trump posted “France is burning!” on his Truth Social platform, apparently linking the unrest to “the immigration of people from an entirely different world.”

“Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!” he wrote.

French authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting and have repeatedly attributed some of the violence to “radical far-left groups” and other people who joined to loot.

“The scale of the damage is considerable and unprecedented,” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire wrote in an open letter. “Paris is a city of freedoms, debate and demonstrations. It must remain so. But it must also be a city where everyone can work and run a business safely.”

Police said groups of hundreds of people formed unauthorized marches across central Paris on Saturday. “By late afternoon, a new phase began with the arrival of large numbers of people whose sole aim was to steal and loot, taking advantage of the unrest,” police said.

The mayors of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, the three largest cities, requested a meeting with the prime minister in the coming days “given the extent of the damage and the seriousness of the situation.”

In the southern port city of Marseille, some protesters briefly forced their way into the lobby of City Hall and a group of people wearing hoods and masks damaged a police station. In Lyon, a fire broke out inside a tourist office.

In Limoges, a group of “radical troublemakers” broke into City Hall while there were elected officials, employees, security personnel and members of the public inside, Maurice Barate, prefect of the Haute-Vienne region, said. “Despite the presence of so many people, they deliberately set the building on fire. It is an extremely serious and unspeakable act."

In eastern France, the Mulhouse prosecutor’s office said an investigation has been opened after a 17-year-old girl was injured during the protests and lost an eye. On Saturday, another investigation was opened after a young protester lost a hand in Saint-Etienne.

The injuries come as police have drawn sharp scrutiny over their use of grenades and other riot-control weapons during recent demonstrations.

A woman walks her dog past a looted store the day after a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

People look at charred cars the day after a demonstration against rising living costs and in solidarity with students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

People clean up debris in a street next to burned bicycles the day after a demonstration against rising living costs and in solidarity with students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

People look at charred cars the day after a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

A woman takes a snapshot of a looted store the day after a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

A protester holds a board with a photo of French president Emmanuel Macron in front of a burning tourism office during a demonstration against rising living costs and in solidarity with students' grievances in Lyon, France, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

A looted store the day after a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

People look at charred cars the day after a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

People look at a charred car on Place de la Republique the day after a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)