Germany braced for temperatures ‘well over 40C’ as Europe heatwave pushes east – live

Forecasters say hottest conditions spreading into central and eastern Europe

Analysis by scientists from the World Weather Attribution group found temperatures in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain were between 5C and 12C above the seasonal average.

In a study, the research group also found that in 45% of 854 European cities examined, heat records had been broken or were forecast to be broken. The researchers measured what is known as the wet bulb globe temperature, a metric that combines air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation to estimate how much heat stress people are likely to experience in real-world outdoor conditions.