London – People in western Europe turned to fans and fountains as they sweltered through a record-breaking heat wave Tuesday, with temperatures set to soar even further.

Hit by what is called a “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa that is pushing the mercury well above normal levels for May, some Europeans even admitted they were considering getting air conditioning, in a region famously averse.

Baking in a bright London sun, 47-year-old Gurjit Gill, who works in banking, said he was happy to be going into work — because of the air conditioning.

“I’m thinking about actually maybe getting an AC unit, because the bedrooms at nighttime are quite unbearable,” he said.

People across western Europe swarmed beaches, braved the streets clutching handheld fans and umbrellas to fend off the sun, and went for a dip or splashed themselves wherever they could — including Rome’s Barcaccia fountain and the bubblers in the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris.

The U.K. reported its hottest-ever day for May, at 35.1 degrees Celsius at Kew Gardens, in southwest London — breaking a record of 34.8 C set at the same location Monday — as a high-pressure system trapped warm air over western Europe.

In France, which also logged its hottest-ever May day on Monday and then again on Tuesday, the weather agency said the heat wave could last through the week, predicting temperatures could go as high as 39 C in some areas.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying such extremes, with weather events like heat waves, droughts and floods becoming more intense and frequent.

Bob Ward, from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, said changes in behavior, homes and businesses were needed.

He said that the high temperatures will likely have killed “hundreds of people” mainly in overheated homes across the U.K., while billions of pounds will have been lost because workplaces are too hot and not productive.

“We now have the climate of the Mediterranean countries in the summer, but we don’t have the buildings and offices built for a Mediterranean climate,” he added, calling for action.

Swiss tourist Philippe Bignens, 56, visiting London with his father, said they had to change plans and retreat to their hotel to avoid being outside at the hottest time of day.

“If you’re not concerned about global warming, you must be deaf, blind altogether, right? So it is there, yes. We have to be concerned and try to do something about it,” he said.

Across the Channel, tennis fans in Paris baked in temperatures of 33 C at the French Open, with players battling through heat that Norway’s Casper Ruud said left him feeling “like a zombie.”

Government authorities also noted the heat had taken a deadly turn.

French authorities on Tuesday reported at least seven deaths linked to the heat wave — five of which were drownings, as many people sought relief on beaches and in the water, even though lifeguard supervision is not due to start in many areas until July.

Authorities in Britain said four teens had drowned in England since Sunday.

A record May temperature of 28.8 C was recorded at two of Ireland’s weather stations amid the current blast of heat, Met Eireann data showed.

In France, news channel BFMTV said its journalists had received threats and insults “from climate-skeptic internet users” over the channel’s weather maps — covered in red and “based on broadly accepted scientific facts,“ it said.

Benjamin Boisson, a fruit grower in southern France, worried the extreme fluctuation in temperature would cause a sharp drop in production, as well as complicate storage.

Already, a previous warm weather spell forced him to harvest apricots five days earlier than planned this year, on May 1, he said.

“That may not seem like much, but it changes everything. The major retailers weren’t ready and are still selling Spanish apricots when they should have switched over to French ones,” he said.

Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) also warned of “extraordinarily high temperatures for this time of year” that will continue all week.

“Widespread tropical nights” are also forecast in southwestern Spain from Wednesday, with temperatures peaking from Wednesday to Friday at between 36 C and 38 C, it wrote on X.

Farther east, Italy’s Lazio region, which includes Rome, on Monday approved rules limiting work in conditions “with prolonged exposure in the sun” between 12:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.

In Austria, Vienna set up special misters to help passersby keep cool on the street.

Europe is the continent that has experienced the fastest warming since 1990, closely followed by Asia, with North America in third place, according to data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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