The Mediterranean Sea is 6 degrees Celsius warmer than normal than the average for the same period of the year. Temperature in Spain's province of Balearic even reached a record of 30 degrees Celsius.
Spain's Aemet weather forecasting agency said the "otherm arch" phenomenon had retained the hot air mass above Europe, causing temperatures to spike abnormally.
Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, doubling the global average, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Agency, causing extreme heat waves to occur earlier in the year and last longer.
In France, the heat wave peaked on July 1, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius to 41 degrees Celsius in some areas and remaining at 36 degrees Celsius to 39 degrees Celsius in most other places, according to Meteo France's weather bulletin.
The French Ministry of Education said that about 1,350 schools were completely or partially closed on July 1 due to heat, a significant increase compared to about 200 schools on June 30. The top floor of the Eiffel Tower is closed on July 1 and 2.
The harsh heat also increases the risk of fire as farmers in the largest grain producer country in the European Union start harvesting crops this year.
Many farmers in France harvest at night to avoid working during the highest temperature in the afternoon. In the Indre region of central France, a series of fires in the fields have occurred since the end of June. The Indre government has banned the work of the syndicate from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day.
