Tourists in France are reporting extreme conditions as a severe heatwave grips the country, forcing many to remain indoors and describing popular destinations as "eerily deserted."
On Tuesday, temperatures in the southwestern commune of Pissos reached over 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 degrees Fahrenheit), marking France's hottest day on record. In Bordeaux, an hour north of Pissos, temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
Tori Thomas, a 38-year-old PR professional from London who had been working remotely in Bordeaux for a month, told the Daily Mail that the city felt deserted as residents and visitors sought refuge from the heat. "By Sunday, people just weren't going out," she said. "Tuesday was the first day where it was unbearable to be outside. You couldn't stand in the sunshine, basically."
Thomas described the heat as so intense that spending more than 10 minutes in the sun would likely cause illness. She reported consuming six to eight large bottles of water daily. The pavement's tarmac became so hot that her flip-flops reportedly "melted onto the pavement."
Many restaurants were closing early or not opening, with some only serving cold food due to the heat and concerns for kitchen staff. Thomas, who booked her trip in June anticipating cooler weather than July or August, found her Airbnb apartment's air conditioning to be a "huge blessing."
Museums offering air conditioning and ice cream shops have seen an increase in business.
Another London-based tourist, Iftikhar Qaisar, shared his experience on Facebook. He and his wife had traveled north from Spain, where temperatures reached 36 degrees Celsius, hoping for cooler weather but instead encountered the record-breaking heatwave in France. "We are doing absolutely nothing except hunting for good shade and trying to survive this historic French heatwave," Qaisar wrote. He noted that their usual exploratory walks of five to 10 miles were impossible, with the only strategy being to remain static in the shade.
The heatwave has been attributed to an "Omega block," a weather pattern where a large high-pressure system traps hot air over a region for extended periods, resembling the Greek letter Omega. This phenomenon is also affecting other parts of Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, where a significant number of heat-related deaths have been reported.
The extreme temperatures have coincided with fatalities. In the west coast town of Tranche-sur-Mer, an elderly British woman died at a campsite. Separately, a three-year-old boy was found dead in a car in a Paris suburb as the capital recorded temperatures of 41 degrees Celsius. France's national average temperature on Wednesday reached 30 degrees Celsius, the highest since measurements began in 1947.