“We don’t go outside much. We air the air all night, but the evenings aren’t particularly cold either; two hours before midnight it’s still 29 degrees,” describes Alena Prival, a Czech woman living in France, as she faces the extreme heat that southern Europe is struggling with these days. According to her, the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand, where she and her husband live, is responding to the hot weather by, for example, extending the opening hours of city parks so that even those who live in apartments can cool off.
Heat is now such a big topic that it has become the number one topic of conversation with friends. “When we meet someone, the first thing we talk about is the heat,” Prival explains. “We all complain about how hot we are. We try to cool down as much as we can. My husband works from home and has a wet towel around his neck or on his feet all the time,” she says.
France has been hit by a heat wave this week, with temperatures reaching 43 degrees Celsius in some places. Meteorologists issued a red alert for the heat on Tuesday in 14 of the 96 departments, the highest level, and five weather stations set temperature records for the day. For example, Saint-Côme-d’Olt in Aveyron, according to Météo France, recorded 42.9 degrees Celsius, while the village of Les Sauvages recorded 37.2 degrees, at an altitude of 831 meters.
On Wednesday, the number of “red” regions dropped to five, but meteorologists are still warning of temperatures that could reach 40 to 42 degrees Celsius in some places. Similar temperatures are expected on Thursday.
Heatwave becomes part of political battle
Tropical temperatures and the fight against heatwaves have even become a political battle. Far-right leader and National Rally member Marine Le Pen said that if her party comes to power, she will adopt a massive plan to install air conditioning throughout the country. Her words were met with a response from Marine Tondelier, head of the French Green Party, who mocked Le Pen and instead proposed plans to green cities and to increase the thermal “defense” of buildings.
“Is air conditioning a far-right issue?” a French YouTube talk show provocatively asked, according to The New York Times, reflecting how controversial the issue has become. While one part of the political spectrum defends air conditioning – arguing that it cools people and increases work productivity – others are bothered by the fact that cooling systems consume electricity and blow the hot air they produce into the streets of cities.
According to Prival, some French people are interested in buying air conditioning in recent days, while others are choosing to buy fans due to some of the arguments mentioned. “The important thing is that the air moves. On the other hand, those who live in the attic, for example, are probably choosing air conditioning,” he says from France.
According to The New York Times, citing the Agency for Ecological Transformation, an estimated 20 to 25 percent of households in the country are equipped with air conditioning. According to European Union data, in 2023, 62.5 percent of the energy consumed by households was used for heating homes, while less than one percent was used for cooling.
The American newspaper also analyzed temperature data from the European Union’s Copernicus meteorological service. These show that much of Europe is now experiencing a longer period of intense heat than 40 years ago. France24 then found from the same program data that heat waves in Europe are becoming more frequent and that climate change is contributing to them.
In addition to France, Greece is also struggling with the heat, which is facing extensive forest and field fires in several places, similar to Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Albania and Montenegro.
In Spain, a fire near the town of Tres Cantos claimed the life of one man, and later the authorities said that a volunteer died while fighting the fire in the northwest of the country in the autonomous region of Castile and León. One soldier also died in Montenegro. Another victim was killed in a fire near the town of Gramsh in southeastern Albania.
Several thousand people in various Spanish regions had to leave their homes during the day due to the fires. In northwest Turkey, a fire required the evacuation of several hundred residents, but has now been brought under control. Extreme heat has increased the risk of wildfires in Hungary and Bulgaria.
Europe is warming faster than any other continent, twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to Copernicus data. Last year was the warmest year on record in Europe and globally, the monitoring agency said earlier.
