June 24, 2026, 6:40 AM EDTBy Daniele Hamamdjian and Alex HolmesPARIS — France followed its hottest ever day with yet more brutal temperatures Wednesday as a deadly heatwave scorches much of western Europe. Thousands of ​homes were hit by power cuts across northern France, while the punishing temperatures prompted the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum to restrict visiting hours.Red alerts were also in place in Britain, Germany, Austria and Switzerland as the extreme early summer heat forced school closures, travel disruption and alarm about climate change across a region ill-equipped for such blistering conditions.The Eiffel Tower closed Tuesday afternoon amid the extreme heat.Sarah Meyssonnier / ReutersA high of 44.3 Celsius (111.7 degrees Fahrenheit) was measured in parts of Landes, in the southwest.The record of 29.8 C for France’s national thermal indicator — an average of day and nighttime temperatures measured at 30 weather stations — was only the latest in a series of never-before-registered highs heaped on Europe in this latest heat wave. “Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” the Meteo France weather service said, adding that the conditions were comparable to a 16-day heatwave in ​August ⁠2003 that caused an estimated 80,000 excess deaths across Europe.At least 48 people have died in France from drowning as they tried to escape the crippling heat, authorities said. Two young children were killed by heat in a car, prosecutors in the southern commune of Carpentras said in a statement Wednesday. “The mother, speaking voluntarily, confirmed that the children had locked themselves in the vehicle without her knowledge,” it added. Crowds gather on the banks and bridges of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris on Tuesday.Samuel Boivin / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAt Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, passengers scrolling through their weather apps were greeted with a slew of red across much of France early Wednesday, warning about the risks of extreme heat for tens of millions of people.“We knew it would be hot, we didn’t realize it would be the hottest day of on record,” a woman arriving from the U.K. told her friend as they waited in line. Another woman said she would hide out in her hotel where there is air conditioning. Tourists hoping to visit the city’s iconic Eiffel Tower may be disappointed for a second day after it closed Tuesday afternoon. Those with tickets were asked to check their emails on the tower’s website Wednesday. “Visitors without tickets are asked to postpone their visit,” it said. The Louvre museum also said it would close two hours earlier than normal from Wednesday through Saturday.“Although parts of its historic building are naturally resilient, the museum remains vulnerable and is not sufficiently adapted to climate change,” Louvre officials said. “Heat buildup is greatest toward the end of the day and is further intensified by high visitor numbers.”“We’re experiencing an episode of exceptional intensity,” French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said Tuesday. “Every day and every night, local and national temperature records are being broken.”Electric hand fans for sale a a market in Paris. Forecasts for unusually warm temperatures continue through July.Anita Pouchard Serra / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesEurope is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising roughly twice as fast as the global average as climate change makes these bouts of extreme weather more likely.British health authorities have also issued a “red heat” health alert, for only the second time ever, warning of a risk to life even for the healthy.The country’s grid operator asked generators to make more power available amid soaring temperatures poised to break records later Wednesday. Train operators advised people to make only essential journeys, while hundreds of schools were closed or finished early.The conditions were likely to persist at least until the weekend, the U.K.’s Met Office warned. Dogs cool off in a Paris mist fountain on Tuesday.Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty ImagesIt was a similar story in Germany, Austria and Italy where health officials have issued maximum alert, red warnings for 16 cities including the capital Rome. Similar warnings were issued for Milan, Turin, Venice and Florence. In Switzerland however, some regional authorities have come up with a novel way for people to beat the heat — free daytime screenings at air conditioned cinemas. “The ​hotter ⁠it gets, the more ‌the cinema becomes a place of refuge,” Laurent Dutoit, manager of three of the cinemas taking part, told ‌Reuters.Around 650 people have taken ‌up the offer since Thursday, he added.