TWO EUROPEAN NATIONS recorded their hottest day on record today as the sweltering heat continues in Central Europe.

Ireland may have cooled down (although not for long, seemingly), but high temperatures continue to pulse across the continent.

Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary recorded temperatures in the high 30 and low 40 degrees.

Hungary experienced an all-time high temperature of 42 degrees today, beating the previous 2007 record of 41.9 degrees. The heat was focused on northern Hungary, near its border with Slovakia.

Slovakia also hit a new temperature record of 41.3 degrees, according to its weather service. It had set an all-time high of 41 degrees on Monday. The temperature was recorded in the south of the country, also near the Hungarian border.

The Croatian city of Split, a popular tourist and party destination in the centre of the country, hit 39.5 degrees today – also an all-time high for the city (but not the country as a whole).

The current heatwave is the most severe ever recorded in Europe and would be “virtually impossible” in June without climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists.

All-time temperature records have been broken in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as for the month of June in Britain and Switzerland.

France faced record average temperatures and its highest-ever nighttime temperatures.

Additional reporting by Emma Hickey