Temperatures broke June records in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands on Friday as the death toll from Europe's heatwave climbed in Spain and France and authorities cancelled concerts and other public events because of health risks.
Germany's highest ever temperature of 41.3C was recorded provisionally in the south-western city of Saarbrücken, just over the border from France, which this week endured its hottest temperatures three days in a row.
Although France's heatwave has peaked, its health minister said the "emergence of deaths at home" was of particular concern.
The World Meteorological Organization warned of "major impacts" to health, ecosystems, agriculture and labour.
Spokeswoman Clare Nullis said: "We need to get used to it, unfortunately."
Europe's deadly June heatwave has moved slowly north and east, and Belgian forecaster David Dehenauw said unofficially that 40C had been recorded in Kleine Brogel, close to the Dutch border.
A top temperature of 39.4C was recorded in the southern Dutch province of Limburg. Meanwhile, in the UK a provisional June record of 37.1C was recorded at Cavendish in Suffolk.
At least 150 million people across the European continent were facing temperatures higher than 35C on Friday, according to calculations by the AFP news agency.
Czech meteorologists believe a 2012 record temperature of 40.4C could be broken on Saturday, while Austrian forecasters believe the national record will fall on Sunday. Balkan countries are seeing extreme heat too, with up to 39C forecast in Serbia over the weekend.
In Switzerland, the Beznau nuclear power plant took both reactors off grid on Friday because the temperature in the River Aare reached 25C, which is considered too high to cool the reactors sufficiently.
Health fears led to the cancellation of two big Paris events at the weekend, following pressure from the local prefecture, which said the hospital system was "saturated" and resources had to be focused on "helping the most vulnerable".
The organisers of Saturday's Paris Pride said they were looking to reschedule the march in September. The Solidays music festival at Longchamp racecourse had been due to start on Friday and run into Sunday, and attracted more than a quarter of a million visitors last year.
However, a third event threatened with cancellation, the Diamond League athletics meeting at Charléty stadium, will go ahead on Sunday after organisers agreed to an "adapted format" involving moving the start later into the afternoon.
Thousands of people had already arrived for Dutch music festival Defqon.1 on Thursday night when organisers said they had to pull the plug on the event because authorities had announced an unprecedented code red warning for extreme heat.
Festival goers reacted angrily to the decision, prompting police to be called to respond to reports of unrest.
Numerous events have also been cancelled in Germany, including Saturday's Hamburg Half Marathon.
