Europe heat wave triggers tropical nights and soaring fan sales

[LONDON] Europe’s first major heat wave of the season will scorch capitals from London to Paris and Madrid through the rest of the week, breaking temperature records and pushing up power demand.

On Monday (May 25), the UK had its earliest ever “tropical night” – with temperatures not falling below 20 deg C – before recording its hottest May day on Tuesday, with Kew Gardens in London reaching 35.1 deg C.

In France, numerous regional May heat records were set, including 35.8 deg C at La Roche-sur-Yon in the west. Government forecaster Météo-France is forecasting temperatures as high as 39 deg C in the coming days.

The heat has been a boon for some retailers. In the UK, Currys saw sales of fans and other cooling products jump 2,758 per cent year-on-year over the May Bank Holiday weekend. John Lewis Partnership reported an 800 per cent surge, while paddling pool sales soared 700 per cent from the previous week. UK electrical retailer AO World reported similar sales jumps.

The intense heat is set to ease toward the end of the week, but the searing start to the season is intensifying concerns about how climate change is spurring more extreme weather impacts, with Europe struggling to adapt. Longer-range forecasts point to more heat waves ahead for the world’s fastest-warming continent, meteorologists say, as persistent heat bakes soils dry and amplifies the risk of higher temperatures.

Heat health alerts are in effect through Thursday across England, with amber warnings for the southern half of the country. France has issued amber warnings for high temperatures on Wednesday in the west.

The heat dome has blocked clouds and fuelled booming solar generation, which has set supply records in the UK. Unusually sunny skies are expected to linger this week, with especially strong solar generation there and in France, Germany, and across most of northwest and central Europe, according to analysis from MetDesk’s Ben Davis.

The abundant power supply is pushing German electricity prices below zero for six hours around midday Wednesday, while prices in France are set to turn negative for two hours and stay close to zero for several more, according to Epex spot data.

Power demand in France is expected to peak at 52.8 gigawatts at 2:30 pm, up from around 48 gigawatts a week earlier, according to RTE data

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France also experienced unusually warm nights, with the country’s lowest overnight temperature on Tuesday falling only to 22.1 deg C in the northern town of Dinard.

Over the weekend, the heat will be pushed east as cooler air moves in from the Atlantic. In the UK, the first relief will come from a shift toward more northeasterly winds bringing fresher and cooler air. BLOOMBERG