High temperatures have affected the entire Europe.

This summer has set numerous temperature records in many parts of the world. Europe was among the most affected continents. Approximately 3,100 people are estimated to have died in Germany this year due to high temperatures, according to researchers from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Most of the victims were over 75 years old, according to a weekly report released by the institute, the main governmental institution in the field of biomedicine. In absolute terms, more women die from the heat than men, a situation that can be attributed to the higher number of elderly women in the population. The number of deaths varies greatly from year to year, depending on the severity of the heatwave. The institute estimated that in 2018, 2019, and 2015, over 6,000 people died due to the heat. In 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021, estimates ranged from 1,000 to 1,700 cases. In most cases, deaths are caused by a combination of factors - preexisting medical conditions exacerbated by heat, which may not always be listed as the cause of death on the death certificate, according to the institute's report. RKI experts estimate the number of heat-related deaths using statistical methods that incorporate air temperature and mortality data.

On the other hand, France experienced its hottest September on record, following exceptionally high temperatures during the summer amid global climate warming in 2023, announced the national meteorological agency of the country. "September 2023 is the hottest September ever measured in metropolitan France, with an average temperature well above the normal values" for the 1991-2020 period, according to Meteo-France representatives. September 2023, which started with an exceptional late heatwave, will be "3.5-3.6°C" above the normal values, with an average temperature of 21.5°C, said climate specialist Christine Berne at a press conference. This record will surpass previous average temperature peaks from 1949 and 1961 recorded in the French national archives, which have data dating back to 1900, and it fits into a continuous 20-month streak of temperatures exceeding seasonal norms. "Climate change favors the extension of heatwaves into (...) spring and September or even early October," as predicted by climate experts from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), added Christine Berne. This configuration, the result of greenhouse gas emissions primarily from human fossil fuel use, combined with a meteorological phenomenon of hot air coming from the Sahara this time.

"Numerous heat records for October are threatened," and there is a risk of them being broken, with enormous seasonal anomalies predicted, "sometimes exceeding differences of 10 degrees Celsius," added meteorologist Tristan Amm. Global climate warming is causing a stronger increase in temperatures in Europe than globally. While global climate is now about 1.2°C warmer than in the pre-industrial era, climatologists estimate that the heat surplus reached in France is approximately 1.8°C. Data from France also reflect the global trend, which broke its quarterly temperature record during the summer in the northern hemisphere (June-July-August) and is likely facing the hottest year in the history of meteorological measurements. In the face of this "relentless mechanism," there has not yet been an assessment of the profoundly structural nature of climate change, said Francois Gemenne, one of the authors of the most recent report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). This unprecedented situation is accompanied by a series of disasters: heatwaves, droughts, floods, and wildfires have struck Asia, Europe, and North America in this period, in dramatic and often unprecedented proportions, taking human lives and causing environmental and economic damage.