The continent's highest reading came on Sardinia, Italy, where thermometers reached 48.4 degrees Celsius (over 119°F) — just 0.4°C short of Europe's record, set in Sicily in 2021.
The country's environmental agency Arpas recorded the figure in the town of Orani.
Central, Eastern and Northern Europe saw the sharpest records.
Denmark hit 37°C and Slovakia 42.2°C, while Poland, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic all saw temperatures of 40-42°C.
Poland's weather institute, IMGW, recorded 40.5C° in the western city of Słubice.
Around 40°C has become a routine summer high in parts of Europe, but AFP found some areas passed that threshold for the first time since at least 2000.
Based on European Drought Observatory data, this affected roughly 18 million people — 9 million of them in Germany, particularly south and west of Berlin and around Frankfurt, plus 4 million in France around Strasbourg and Metz.
Heatwaves also lasted longer than usual
Between mid-June and mid-August, parts of Spain, around Lleida in Catalonia and Córdoba and Granada in Andalusia, logged more than 55 days above 35°C, as did Nicosia in Cyprus.
Some regions also recorded their first nights above 25°C since at least the early 2000s, including France's Pays de la Loire and Île-de-France regions, southern Italy, and the Croatian island of Brač.
Unusually warm nights were also reported in Poland, especially around Warsaw.
(ał)
Source: PAP