BERLIN – Europe’s heat wave has pushed the mercury to its highest level in Germany since measurements began in 1881.

The country’s national weather service says an automated measurement station recorded a temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104.54 Fahrenheit) in Kitzingen, northern Bavaria, on Sunday afternoon.

Weather service spokesman Uwe Kirsche said Monday that the record won’t be official until technicians have manually checked the station.

But he says “we assume that our equipment worked properly.”

The previous record of 40.2 Celsius was measured in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe in 2003.

Storms across parts of Germany on Sunday night brought temperatures back down.