Portugal, Spain, France and the UK were set to bake under 30C-plus temperatures on Friday and into next week, in the first major heat spell of the summer for western Europe. Paris and London were both forecast to hit 32C, while south-west France could reach 35C and Spain’s Guadiana and Guadalquivir regions were expected to see highs of up to 38C.
France’s weather service, Météo-France, said the event would be intense and last several days, with records almost certain to fall for the highest May temperature ever recorded in France and the warmest average temperature across the country on a May day. The agency blamed a heat dome, saying hot air from Morocco was trapped beneath the high pressure of a powerful anticyclone.
For France, the numbers underline how early the heat has arrived. The country’s May temperature record stands at 30.5C, set in 2025, while the highest average temperature across France on a day in May was 22.8C in 2017. Météo-France said both daytime highs and overnight lows were likely to reach unprecedented levels for the season in several regions, especially in the south-west, in what it called a premature heat event that would be intense and last several days.
Spain was already sweltering before the weekend. Temperatures reached 38C on Thursday, and the national weather agency Aemet said the hot spell was expected to stretch well into next week. Aemet said readings would run 5C to 10C above the seasonal average, and 10C above average for the time of year in northern regions, with conditions more typical of July and August than late spring. Rubén del Campo, an Aemet spokesperson, described it as “full-on summer heat.”
The UK is also being pulled into the same hot air mass. The Met Office said temperatures could reach 33C locally on Monday, which would put parts of the country into heatwave territory if they stay above 26C to 28C for three days, depending on location. The current UK record for May is 32.8C, set in 1944, and forecasters will be watching to see whether that mark comes under threat.
The human toll is already being felt. In Galicia, a two-year-old girl died after being accidentally left in her father’s car for hours as temperatures climbed. Her death has put a sharp edge on what forecasters describe as a fast-moving and unusually early heat event, one that is likely to test hospitals, transport systems and emergency services across the region.
The pattern fits a broader shift that scientists and weather agencies have been warning about for years. Météo-France said exceptional heat is expected to happen more often, arrive more prematurely and hit more intensely as climate breakdown reshapes Europe’s summers. For now, the immediate story is the same one stretching from Lisbon to London: a heat dome has arrived, and it is not finished yet.
