Germany recorded its highest temperature since weather records began on Saturday, with 41.5 degrees Celsius measured in Drewitz in the Jerichower Land district of Saxony-Anhalt, according to the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD). A DWD spokesperson confirmed that several additional weather stations also recorded readings above 41 degrees on the same day.
The previous night set its own record: the Saxon village of Kubschütz, in the Bautzen district of eastern Saxony, registered a minimum nighttime temperature of 29.4 degrees Celsius, far above the previous record of 27.2 degrees, which had stood since August 2003 when it was measured in Weinbie, Rhineland-Palatinate.
The heatwave has been declared the longest in German history. The DWD issued extreme heat warnings for Sunday as well, with the heat centre shifting progressively eastward. In the Lusatia region, temperatures were expected to potentially reach 42 degrees Celsius.
Record highs were broken across Europe simultaneously. In the Czech Republic, a station near Prague recorded 40.8 degrees Celsius. Switzerland posted a June heat record of 39 degrees, while Denmark recorded 37 degrees north of Aarhus, its highest temperature on record.
The extreme heat has been linked to a significant rise in deaths across Europe. In France alone, French health authorities reported approximately 1,000 additional deaths compared to the preceding months, counting from Wednesday. The deaths were concentrated predominantly among elderly people aged 65 and over.
In Germany, numerous public events and sporting competitions were cancelled as a precautionary measure, but emergency services were nonetheless operating under extreme strain. In Cologne, the city administration reported that fire brigade rescue services had reached the limits of their capacity. In Essen, the city responded to a sharp rise in emergency call volumes by increasing the number of on-duty personnel.
Dresden's fire service described Saturday as the single busiest operational day of the year, with 318 callouts. Across many other cities, officials reported exceptional pressure on rescue teams and heat-related special operations. In Weingarten in Baden, firefighters were required to deliberately empty a gas tank after its safety valve repeatedly triggered in the heat, releasing gas into the surrounding area.
The extreme weather conditions also placed significant strain on public infrastructure. Deutsche Bahn issued a nationwide appeal for passengers to avoid all non-essential travel. Rail services in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, were heavily disrupted. In Leipzig and Nürnberg, local transport operators suspended all tram services entirely, citing heat damage to the network.
Relief is on the way. From Sunday evening, thunderstorms were expected to bring gradually falling temperatures. From Monday, conditions were forecast to cool across Germany as a whole, with temperatures set to drop below 30 degrees Celsius for the days ahead.
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