Europe braced for another day of extreme heat as warnings issued across UK, France and Italy – live

The Met Office’s red extreme heat warning has been extended into Friday night.

“The exceptional spell of hot and humid weather will continue across this region, with impacts to the general population highly likely,” it said.

“ The heatwave which is affecting a large part of England and Wales is set to continue during Friday. The focus of the highest temperatures on Friday is likely to shift towards east and southeastern England, where maximum temperatures in the shade could exceed 36 Celsius, perhaps rising to 38 Celsius in some places. However, following another very warm night, the greatest likelihood of high impacts are expect to be within this Red warning area during Friday. The heat will be accompanied by high humidity, exacerbating the potential for discomfort and health impacts, with very warm and humid night times also reducing the ability for people to recover overnight. Significant disruption to daily life is likely and the public should take every effort to make precautions and adapt their daily routines where possible to cope with these levels of heat, which up to now have been extremely rare for the UK.”

The agency also confirmed that the UK record for the highest June minimum temperature has been provisionally broken with 23.5C reported overnight in Bute Park, Cardiff.