Quebecers on vacation are suffering the effects of the stifling heatwaves sweeping Europe as mercury hit record highs in several countries on Tuesday.
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“We reduce our days to do fewer activities. Long walks are also out of the question,” says Judith Letarte, who is on a trip to Paris and London with her mother and three children.
With both feet in the stifling heat, several Quebecers abroad had to review their plans for the day to juggle the temperature.
“We didn’t dare to try the subway. It is warned against ingesting it or bringing bottled water as there is no air circulation,” Ms. Letarte adds.
In the United Kingdom, mercury hit an all-time high of 40.2C in west London late this morning, the Met Office said.
The same story in France, where several cities exceeded 42 ° C.
“It’s too hot here. […] None of the hotels have air conditioning. Our hotel room in Oxford didn’t have one either and we suffered heat shock,” says Victoria Vu, who is touring England with her partner and two children.
Looking for air conditioning
In Belgium, where thermometers could climb as high as 40C, major museums opened their doors for free to the elderly to help them cool off, while the country also feared records.
Young Lisa Le Bigot, 14, was visiting family in Normandy and dedicated her day on Tuesday to trying to cool down by any means necessary.
With no air conditioning and no fan, the Montreal teenager alternated between ice cream cones, fan and cold showers.
“It’s very, very difficult. Sleeping is really uncomfortable. There is no place in the house that is cool. We try to do as little activity as possible and drink a lot,” she lists.
Despite best efforts to let in a draft, his thermometer read 45.6C on Tuesday morning.
“You shouldn’t go outside because there’s only hot wind that doesn’t cool you down,” she continues, before warming to the idea of going to the grocery store to use the air conditioning. .
heat and laziness
One of the problems, believes Quebecer Jérémy Aubre, who has lived in Toulouse for more than 15 years, is that the accommodation is not adapted to extreme temperatures and lets the heat in.
“It often happens that it is hot, but not for such a long period of time. […] We all get incredibly lazy. We put off tasks like cleaning until tomorrow, even if it’s absurd because it’s still going to be just as hot,” he explains.
Forest fires in France, Spain and Portugal also led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
– With AFP
Ozone pollution of concern
The current heat wave and drought in Europe are exacerbating ozone pollution, the European climate service Copernicus warned on Tuesday. It is an important greenhouse gas and a component of urban smog, which harms human health in terms of both respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to inhibiting photosynthesis in plants.
According to scientist Mark Parrington, high levels of surface ozone can cause a sore throat, cough, headache and an increased risk of asthma attacks. This gas is also a major concern for agricultural regions and food security.
Scientists have already identified “extremely high levels of surface ozone” in western and southern Europe, including over the Iberian Peninsula and parts of northern Italy.
Heat records in 64 communities
According to Météo France, all-out heat records were broken in 64 communes on Monday, at the height of the heatwave that hit France. They were mainly recorded along the Atlantic coast.
In the small town of Biscarrosse in the southwest of the country, mercury neared 42.6C.
But more than that, the amplitude of the gaps between the old records and some of the new ones is particularly significant as heat waves multiply and intensify under the effects of climate change.
In the southwest of the country, two major fires also destroyed entire forest areas and campsites.
2000 firefighters
More than 2,000 firefighters continued to battle the fires in Portugal on Tuesday. The two most worrying wildfires are happening in the far north of the country. One of them alone mobilized almost 800 firefighters and led to the evacuation of three villages. A couple in their 70s died trying to flee the fire.
Two Quebecers currently vacationing in the country told the Journal that they saw some of the damage on the road between Évora and Porto.
“We drove for miles and saw the white floors like they were covered in ash. It’s so dry here, not a drop of rain has fallen,” said Julie Sylvestre.
In the southernmost region of the Algarve, their car read the hottest, up to 43°C.
More than 40,000 evacuees
Forest fires in Spain and France caused by the extreme heat wave have led to the emergency evacuation of more than 40,000 people in the past few days. About 37,000 fled the Gironde, a department in south-west France, and 6,000 of them had to leave the province of Zamora in north-west Spain.
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