The hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe was 122F at Seville, Spain on August 4, 1881
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalextremes.html
The US experienced horrific forest fires during that same summer
Leading climate experts say that the 2003 heatwave was the worst in Europe’s history, because time began either in 1960 or 1970.
http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-locations/debilt-the-netherlands.html
122f seville
1881 also brought the hottest reading ever recorded at a Washington, DC weather station, 108 at the Naval Observatory, recorded on September 7, 1881.
It’s interesting that this is the same time that sexual intercourse began:
H/t Philip Larkin