Millions of people across France woke up drenched in sweat on Tuesday after another night of scorching heat, with most of the population exposed to extreme and exceptional temperatures.
Temperatures will remain exceptionally high around the clock as the national weather service, Meteo France, placed 54 departments under a red heat wave alert.
In a country without widespread air-conditioning, schools, trains and sporting events remain impacted, while some 20 drowning deaths have been reported since the weekend.
Climate change is tied to increasing extreme weather, and UN climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records.
“Sunshine continues to dominate across France, maintaining oppressive and exhausting heat throughout the country,” Meteo France said. Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40°C in many towns.
“Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” Meteo France said.
The heat wave is exceptionally intense, coming very early in the summer, “but with a still uncertain duration,” the weather service said. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in over half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning.
France introduced a heat watch warning system after that heat wave.
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