Germany swelters in record June temperatures

Germany experienced temperatures more than four degrees higher in June than the average during an international reference period for tracking climate change, the national weather service said Friday.

The German Weather Service based in Offenbach near Frankfurt said that June temperatures in the EU's most populous country averaged 19.8 degrees Celsius (67.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

"That was 4.4 degrees higher than the average during the internationally recognised reference period of 1961 to 1990," it said in a statement.

Compared to the warmer period of 1981 to 2010, June 2019 was 4.0 degrees warmer.

"The consistently summery temperatures, which reached midsummer levels at the end of the month, were 0.4 degrees higher than the previous record in 2003 for the warmest June since the start of record keeping in 1881."

Europe is sweltering in an early summer heatwave that has already caused several deaths across the continent, mainly among the elderly.