AFP, London

Residents of western Europe turned to fans and fountains as they sweltered through a record-breaking heat waveyesterday, with temperatures set to soar even further.

Hit by a so-called “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 con.

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

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 UK reported its hottest-ever day for May, at 35C near London -- breaking a record of 33.5C set Monday -- as a high-pressure system trapped warm air over western Europe.

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

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

“This record-breaking heat has the fingerprints of climate change all over it,” said Friederike Otto, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London.

“Temperatures on this scale were once exceptional even at the height of summer... But the science is very clear -- climate change makes these heatwaves hotter, longer and far more frequent.”

Swiss tourist Philippe Bignens, 56, visiting London with his father, told AFP 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 English Channel, tennis fans in Paris baked in temperatures of 33C 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 yesterday reported at least seven deaths linked to the heatwave -- 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 28.8C 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-sceptic 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.