What happened
The event date for this report is 2026-06-25. Temperatures linked to third child’s death in France, where three-quarters of country is under extreme heat alert Temperatures linked to third child’s death in France, where three-quarters of country is under extreme heat alert The UK and Switzerland both recorded the hottest-ever June temperatures on Thursday, while brutally hot conditions supercharged by the climate crisis were linked to the death of a third toddler in France and a sharp rise in medical emergencies across Europe. The account is based on one supplied report and should be read as a record of conditions known at that point, rather than as a statement about later developments. The UK’s new provisional high of 36.7C (98.06F), recorded in Merryfield, Somerset, surpassed Wednesday’s June record of 36.1C in Gosport, Hampshire, which had beaten the previous peak of 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976.
The available figures and chronology
In Switzerland, the national weather agency reported temperatures had exceeded 37C for the first time in June, breaking a record set in 1947. “A temperature of 38C was even recorded at the Basel weather station” – the same place where the 1947 record was logged, MétéoSuisse reported on social media. These details help define the scale and immediate setting of the event without extending the evidence beyond what the supplied source states. Where a number is an estimate, provisional count, forecast or company claim, it should not be treated as a final independently audited total. The evidence packet does not support assumptions about motives, responsibility or longer-term outcomes beyond the facts described here.
The operational context
Earlier on Thursday, the Met Office – the UK’s weather and climate service – reported a sweltering night in Cardiff broke another heat record for the country. Temperatures only fell to 23.5C overnight in the Welsh capital, the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in June. These details help define the scale and immediate setting of the event without extending the evidence beyond what the supplied source states. Where a number is an estimate, provisional count, forecast or company claim, it should not be treated as a final independently audited total. The evidence packet does not support assumptions about motives, responsibility or longer-term outcomes beyond the facts described here.
What remained uncertain
The scorching temperatures stretched across much of western Europe, with at least 101 million people expected to experience temperatures above 35C on Thursday,, according to the news agency Agence France-Presse. In France, where three-quarters of the country remained under an extreme heat alert, the national weather agency registered the hottest night since record-keeping began in 1947, as overnight temperatures from Wednesday to Thursday broke a record set earlier this week. These details help define the scale and immediate setting of the event without extending the evidence beyond what the supplied source states. Where a number is an estimate, provisional count, forecast or company claim, it should not be treated as a final independently audited total. The evidence packet does not support assumptions about motives, responsibility or longer-term outcomes beyond the facts described here.
The record at the time
Taken together, the supplied material supports the main development in the headline and the specific details above. It does not establish what happened after 2026-06-25, and no later outcome is inferred here. The report therefore preserves the event-date framing, attributes the account to the available evidence and avoids turning an early figure or stated plan into a settled result. Further official data, technical findings or independent reporting could refine the picture, but those materials were not part of this packet.
