LONDON (AFP) – Western Europeans turned to fans and fountains as they sweltered in a record heatwave on Tuesday, with temperatures set to soar further.
Battered by the so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa that is pushing the mercury well above normal levels for May, some Europeans even admitted they were considering getting air conditioning in a region they famously hate.
Baking in a bright London sun, 47-year-old Gurjit Gill, who works at a bank, said he was glad to be going to work – because of the AC.
“I’m thinking about actually getting an AC unit because the bedrooms at night are quite unbearable,” he told AFP.
People across western Europe flocked to beaches, braved the streets clutching hand fans and umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, and went for a dip or splash wherever they could—including Rome’s Barcaccia Fountain and bubbles at the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris.
The UK reported its hottest day ever for May, at 95F near London – breaking a record of 92.3F set on Monday – as a high pressure system trapped warm air over western Europe.
In France, which also recorded its hottest day of May on Monday and then again on Tuesday, the weather agency said the heat wave could last through the week, predicting temperatures could reach 102.2 F in some areas.
Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying such extremes, with weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods becoming more intense and frequent.
“This record heat has the fingerprints of climate change all over it,” said Friederike Otto, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London. “Temperatures on this scale used to be extraordinary even in the height of summer but the science is very clear – climate change is making these heat waves hotter, longer and much more frequent.”
Swiss tourist Philippe Bignens, 56, visiting London with his father, told AFP they had to change plans and retreat to their hotel to avoid being outside in the hottest part of the day.
“If you’re not concerned about global warming, you must be completely deaf, blind, right? So it’s there, yes. We must be concerned and try to do something about it,” he said.
Deadly twist
Across the English Channel, tennis fans in Paris basked in 91.4F temperatures at the French Open, with players battling heat that Norway’s Casper Ruud said left him feeling “like a zombie”.
Government authorities also noted that the heat had taken a deadly turn.
French authorities on Tuesday reported at least seven deaths linked to the heat wave – five of them drownings – as many people sought help on beaches and in the water, although lifeguard patrols will not begin in many areas until July.
Authorities in Britain said four teenagers had drowned in England since Sunday.
A record May temperature of 83.8F was recorded at two of Ireland’s weather stations amid the current heatwave, Met Eireann data showed.
In France, news channel BFMTV said its journalists had received threats and insults “from climate-skeptic internet users” over the channel’s weather maps – covered in red and “based on widely accepted scientific facts”, it said.
Work affected
Benjamin Boisson, a fruit grower in southern France, worried that the extreme temperature swing would cause a sharp drop in production, as well as complicate storage.
Already, a previous bout of warm weather forced him to harvest apricots five days earlier than planned this year, on May 1, he said.
“This may not seem like much, but it changes everything. The big retailers were not ready and are still selling Spanish apricots when they should have switched to French ones,” he said.
Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) also warned of “extremely high temperatures for this time of year” to continue throughout the week.
“Widespread tropical nights” are also forecast in southwestern Spain from Wednesday, with temperatures peaking Wednesday through Friday between 96.8F and 100.4F, he wrote in X.
Further east, Italy’s Lazio region, which includes Rome, adopted rules on Monday limiting work in conditions “with prolonged exposure to the sun” between 12:30 and 4 p.m.
In Austria, Vienna deployed special marshals to help pedestrians stay calm on the streets.
Europe is the continent that has experienced the fastest warming since 1990, followed closely by Asia, with North America in third place, according to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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From Agence France-Presse
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