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Germany

Europe sizzles as heat wave smashes records

John Bacon
USA TODAY
People cool off as they  enjoy refreshing  in a public pool in Radebeul near Dresden, Saturday July 4, 2015.

A heat wave blasting through Europe smashed the German record, the 104.5-degree temperature recorded Sunday in Kitzingen the hottest in the nation since record keeping began in 1881.

Sunday's heat nudged out the previous record of 104.3 degrees Fahrenheit set in July 1983 and again in August 2003, meteorologists told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper.

Kitzingen is a town of about 20,000 people in southern Bavaria.

Europe has experienced extreme heat since last week, with scorching temperatures saddling England, France, Poland, Portugal, Spain and other nations, AccuWeather reported.

Britain last week saw a record high for a July day, and forecasters were warning that month's end could bring an all-time record to that nation, as well, The Telegraph reported.

Forecasters there said temps will normalize for the next couple weeks, but that "by the end of July and beginning of August a second wave of very hot air is expected to push up from central and southern Europe bringing sweltering heat," the Telegraph said.

Britain's all-time high of 101 degrees was set at Brogdale, Kent, on Aug. 10, 2003.

Meteo France, that nation's national weather service, had put 47 regions on Orange Alert after several cities hit record-high temperatures Tuesday. The weather service forecast an "enduring heat wave of significant intensity requiring particular vigilance."

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