meteo france

Spain, France and other western European nations on Saturday sweltered under a blistering June heatwave that has sparked forest fires and concerns such early summer blasts of hot weather will now become the norm.

France, Spain and other western European nations braced on June 18 for a sweltering June weekend that is set to break records and sparked concern about forest fires and the effects of climate change.

The weather on Saturday represented a peak of a June heatwave that is in line with warnings from scientists that such phenomena will now hit earlier than usual thanks to climate change.

Snowfall has caused huge traffic jams and hampered train services in the Paris region as the French capital experiences its first real dose of wintry weather this season.

The Meteo France weather service put the greater Paris region on alert for snow and black ice on roads, among 28 departments it expected to be on alert across the country until late on Wednesday.