France Records Hottest Day Ever as 40 Drownings Reported During Heat Wave

France recorded its hottest day ever as an early heat wave gripped Europe, with the national temperature indicator reaching 29.8C (85.6F) for France’s average across 30 weather stations.

“At least 40 people have drowned in France while swimming in unsupervised areas to seek relief from a heatwave gripping the country and other parts of Europe”

Al Jazeera

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the drowning death toll since Thursday was mainly young people, as authorities warned about unsupervised swimming during the heat.

Al Jazeera

The Guardian reported that “There is a tragic scourge of drownings,” and said the latest figures showed 40 deaths since 18 June.

In France’s southwest, Meteo-France said temperatures reached 43C (109F) in Les Herbiers on Tuesday, while the heat wave was expected to persist at least until the end of the week.

The BBC said France’s hottest June day on record reached an average of 29.8C, and that its hottest night was recorded on Monday at a minimum average of 21.6C.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said, “Every day and every night, local and national temperature records are being broken,” as the heat wave reached a peak across multiple European countries.

Sports Minister Marina Ferrari told France Inter radio that “to go swimming in unauthorised areas during a heatwave is not something to take lightly,” linking the drownings to behavior during extreme heat.

AP News

The BBC reported that France’s sports minister said too many people were trying to cool off in rivers and canals without necessarily taking the risks into account.

In London, data scientist Lewis Jennings told Reuters news that “Thirty-six degrees is going to be disgusting,” as the Met Office issued a red heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday.

The heat wave also disrupted major sites in Paris, with the Louvre saying it would close two hours earlier from Wednesday through Saturday and the Eiffel Tower closing early at 4pm local time.

Meteo France said the heat wave has reached what it described as a “plateau of severity,” with unrelenting heat, day and night, and a growing number of regions expected to tip into the red again Wednesday.

“- Published Forty people have drowned in heatwave-related deaths in France since Thursday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has said, as temperatures hit record levels in several major cities and the heatwave reaches a peak in several European countries”

BBC

The BBC reported that Météo France said the red alert in much of France would be extended on Wednesday afternoon from 54 to 58 of the country’s 96 metropolitan departments, to include several areas in the north west.

The Guardian said the heat was forecast to continue until the end of the week, with “Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” citing Météo-France.

Beyond France, the BBC said Spain’s Aemet warned temperatures could top 44C in rural areas near the southern city of Córdoba and exceed 42C in the Ebro valley in the north-east.

The AP reported that U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years are likely to shatter more heat records, while the World Health Organization’s Europe office said over the last four years more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes.