People in western Europe turned to fans and fountains as they sweltered through a record-breaking heatwave Tuesday, with temperatures set to soar even further.Hit by a 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 famously averse.
Baking in a bright London sun, 47-year-old Gurjit Gill, who works in banking, said he was happy to be going into work – because of the air con.
"I'm thinking about actually maybe getting an AC unit, because the bedrooms at nighttime are quite unbearable," he told AFP.
People across western Europe swarmed beaches, braved streets clutching handheld fans and umbrellas to fend off the sun, and went for a dip or splashed themselves wherever they could – including at Rome's Barcaccia fountain and bubblers in the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris.
The UK reported its hottest-ever day for May, at 35.1 Celsius at Kew Gardens, in southwest London – breaking a record of 34.8C set at the same location Monday – as a high-pressure system trapped warm air over western Europe.
