Events canceled, records loom as heatwave reaches Germany

A man watches the rising sun in Berlin, Germany, June 25, 2026. (REUTERS)

• Several open-air sports events have been canceled, including a half-marathon in Hamburg

BERLIN: A heatwave sweeping Europe was starting to peak in Germany on Thursday, with several open-air events canceled and temperatures expected to top 40C through the weekend.
Large parts of the country are already under “severe to extreme heat stress” with temperatures soaring to around 37C, the German Weather Service (DWD) said.
In an unprecedented step, rail operator Deutsche Bahn warned customers to avoid travel and said it would refund any tickets booked up to June 30 due to a high risk of disruption from wildfires, heavy summer rain and thunderstorms.
Several open-air sports events have been canceled, including a half-marathon in Hamburg where authorities cited the risk of “an increased demand for emergency and rescue services.”
The mercury will rise further in Germany starting Friday and on Saturday, when almost the entire country is forecast to bake under temperatures of 35 to 41C.
Experts say the current German record for June of 39.6C, recorded in 2019 in Saxony-Anhalt state, could easily be broken over the weekend.
Germany’s overall temperature record is 41.2C, recorded on July 25, 2019.
Germany is not prepared to cope well with extreme heat, Martin Herrmann, head of the German Climate and Health Alliance, told AFP.
“Although public awareness of the dangers of heat has clearly increased, Germany is still poorly prepared, or not prepared at all, for a heat-related disaster,” he said.
Herrmann called for heat protection to be more firmly embedded in disaster and crisis management, “like flood protection.”
Hot weather over the past week has already led to a spike in fatal swimming accidents.
Two men aged 20 and 22 drowned in lakes in Bavaria, and a 79-year-old woman died in the Baltic Sea. Other fatal swimming accidents occurred in lakes in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.
An investigation has also been launched after three teenagers died after swimming in a canal in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The risk of forest fires is also rising sharply, according to the DWD, with the highest alert level already reached in parts of eastern Germany.
Meanwhile the Protestant Church has launched an initiative encouraging people to seek shelter in cool church buildings.