At least 3,700 excess deaths reported during heatwave in France, Belgium and Netherlands

PARIS, July 3: France, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded 3,700 excess ​deaths during the June heatwave that sent temperatures soaring ‌across Europe, with authorities warning that the numbers are preliminary and could rise.

Experts have said the heatwave, which lasted from about June ​20-28, was the worst recorded in Europe, causing disruption to ​power generation, damaging infrastructure and overwhelming healthcare systems. The ⁠extreme heat was almost certainly driven by climate change, scientists ​said.

There were 2,025 excess deaths recorded in France during the ​heatwave, with a particular increase in deaths among people aged over 45, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist told local television on Friday.

Deaths at home ​rose 91% between June 22-28 compared to the previous ​week, while deaths in nursing homes and healthcare facilities also increased, the ‌country's ⁠public health authority said in a bulletin.

In Belgium, the Health Ministry said on Thursday it had registered ​excess mortality of ​about 1,200 ⁠deaths between June 18 and June 29, adding that 530 of the deaths were among people ​aged 85 or older. People aged under ​65 accounted ⁠for 180 of the excess deaths.

"Such excess mortality during a heatwave is unprecedented in our country," the ministry said in ⁠a statement.

Authorities ​in the Netherlands said the heatwave led ​to about 480 excess deaths, mainly among the over 80s.

Spain records more than 1,000 heat-related June deaths

MADRID, July 1: More than 1,000 deaths in Spain were attributed to the recent heatwave that roasted Europe, as the country posted the hottest first six months ever recorded, officials said on Wednesday.

At least 1,028 people died of heat-related issues during the heatwave, the public Carlos III Health Institute said.

The figure was more than double the 407 deaths that were attributed to heat in June 2025, Spain's hottest June since records started being kept, according to the national weather agency Aemet.

The first six months of 2026 were the hottest in Spain since the start of records, with temperatures 1.6°C above normal levels on average, Aemet said in a post on X on Wednesday (July 1).

"The seven warmest first semesters... have occurred over the past 10 years", the Aemet agency said in a post on X.

June 2026 came in as the second-hottest June, "with temperatures on average 3.2°C above the norm," Aemet said.

The heatwave that scorched Europe from late June was the most severe ever recorded in Europe, and would have been "virtually impossible" in June without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

All-time temperature records were been broken in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary, as well as for the month of June in the U.K. and in Switzerland.

France faced record breaking average temperatures, with the country experiencing its highest-ever nighttime temperatures.

Delhi's temperature read 37°C. It felt like 53°C

NEW DELHI, June 30: India's Capital city on Tuesday recorded a ‘real feel’ temperature of 53°C. The day’s high on the thermometer was 37°C.

The difference between the two captures the discomfort that comes with high humidity levels, a phenomenon that isn’t common for much of north India.

Meteorologists say this mugginess is the result of southwesterly winds off the Arabian Sea feeding moisture into northwestern India, even as the monsoon, delayed past its normal Delhi onset of June 27, is yet to arrive.

Until it reaches, the combination of humidity and heat may only be broken by scattered, short-lived relief from thunderstorms in the region.

‘Real feel’ temperature or heat index (HI) is the estimate of how hot the temperature feels to a person. The concept was anchored on the idea that high humidity slows evaporation of sweat, affecting the human body's ability to cool down.

American meteorologist Robert Steadman, in the 1970s and early 80s, came up with a formula that quantified the physiological effects of high heat and humidity on human beings. The US National Weather Service fitted a regression equation – called the Rothfusz equation – to Steadman’s tables in 1990, and it is this format that most meteorological agencies use till date.

Though uncommon in the northern plains, humidity levels rise ahead of monsoon’s onset every year.

And this poses a unique health risk than just hot and dry conditions because high humidity disrupts the body’s main cooling mechanism: sweating.

As body temperature rises, the brain triggers sweating and a widening of blood vessels in the skin that redirects blood from the body’s core to its surface, so heat can escape into the air. This only works when moisture in the air is low enough for moisture on the skin to evaporate readily. As humidity climbs, sweat simply pools on the skin and drips off without cooling anything at all.

With evaporation impaired, the body leans harder on its other channel — pumping more blood to the skin — which makes the heart work harder. This is why cardiovascular strain, rather than a heatstroke, is considered a more common consequence of exposure to humid heat.

A related but separate indicator is wet-bulb temperature, which measures – in effect – the human body’s ability to cool down when exposed to heat and humidity.

Between June 28 and June 30, as Delhi’s heat index crossed the 50°C-mark, wet-bulb temperatures inched close to 30°C, Met department data showed.

In its elementary form, this reading was captured with a thermometer bulb wrapped in a water-soaked wick, then exposed to the air and allowed to cool to the lowest temperature that evaporation can achieve.

When wet-bulb temperature is low, sweat evaporates easily. But when it nears skin’s temperature, evaporation – the body's main route for releasing heat – grinds to a halt.

The body cannot survive prolonged exposure to the hot and humid weather once wet-bulb temperature exceeds 35°C, scientists say.

The threshold may be even lower than this. Researchers have warned that core body temperatures in young, healthy adults can begin rising uncontrollably after the wet-bulb reading crosses 31°C, putting them at risk of heat-stress and heat strokes.

Heat index was calibrated to a roughly 67kg adult walking at an easy pace in light, Western-style summer clothing, in the shade, with a gentle breeze. This ‘normal’ type was drawn from the western world, not India’s climate or dress.

Applying this to a country where a vast number of people work outdoors in direct sun could potentially understate the risk of heat-related illnesses.

In 2023, researchers from IIT Delhi tried to close this gap by building a separate India Heat Index (IHI). “All existing indicators were developed based on data from developed countries,” the study’s co-author Sagnik Dey said.