Western Europe hit by heat wave, Paris “unbearably hot”

Hugh Schofield, the BBC’s Paris correspondent, described people in the French capital scrambling for shade “as if it were mid-August”, with temperatures reaching 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, France’s National Meteorological Service said a “heat dome” over western Europe was causing temperatures to be 10 to 15 degrees Celsius higher than the May average.

One tourist told the BBC he chose to visit Paris in May to avoid the summer.

Brent, visiting from Australia, said, ‘We knew it could be really bad in June, July, August, and I thought it would be easier if we came in May.