Extreme heat alert: Survive Czechia's hottest weekend without air conditioning

The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) has issued a red alert, its highest warning level, as temperatures in Prague and the Bohemian lowlands are forecast to reach between 35°C and 40°C this weekend. The worst heat is expected in Polabí, Poohří, central Bohemia, and South Moravia.

City and regional authorities have responded with a blanket ban on open fires, smoking, and barbecues in all forests, parks, and within 50 metres of vegetation.

Across the country, event organizers are cancelling or scaling back outdoor activities to protect public safety and animal welfare.

Stone and concrete surfaces absorb heat through the day and release it slowly after dark, raising overnight temperatures well above what rural areas experience. Limited tree cover on some central streets compounds the effect.

Most of Prague's older housing stock has no mechanical cooling. Air conditioning remains rare in the city centre, where historic building protections and installation costs are prohibitive. Residents rely instead on timing, shade, and access to cool public spaces.

The pattern is common across the continent. While nearly 90 percent of US homes have air conditioning, the figure across Europe sits at around 20 percent, according to the International Energy Agency, a gap that reflects both the cost of retrofitting older buildings and a climate history in which prolonged extreme heat was, until recently, unusual.

"We simply don't have the tradition of air conditioning," IEA energy efficiency chief Brian Motherway told CNN, "because up to relatively recently, it hasn't been a major need."

Petra Batók, spokeswoman for the Prague hygiene station, recommends ventilating your home at night and in the early morning, then close windows and shade them with blinds or curtains during the day.

During heatwave conditions, the city effectively operates on a split rhythm: outdoor activity in the morning and evening, and underground or indoor shelter during peak daytime hours.

Avoid going out between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. If you have to, wear a hat, light-colored clothing and sunscreen. Carry water at all times, including on public transport, where older trams and buses can get dangerously hot. "If you feel unwell, get off at the nearest stop and move to the shade," Batók says.

Instead of widespread mechanical cooling, Prague offers a different system of heat management: underground spaces, naturally cool interiors, and adjusted daily rhythms that shift activity away from the hottest hours of the day.