Europe cooks in heat wave

Photo: The Canadian Press

People cool off next to the fountains at Louvre Museum in Paris, Wednesday.

Hot, hotter, hottest! Paris, London and places across Europe are sweltering under all-time high temperatures or near-record heat Thursday as the second heat wave this summer bakes the continent.

Climate scientists warn this could become the new normal in many parts of the world. But temperate Europe — where air conditioning is rare — isn't equipped for the temperatures frying the region this week.

So tourists frolicked in fountains to seek relief, and authorities and volunteers fanned out to help the elderly, sick and homeless hit hardest by the heat. Trains were cancelled in Britain and France, and French authorities urged travellers to stay home.

One by one, heat records are being broken across Europe. On Thursday afternoon the Paris area hit 40.6 C, beating the previous record of 40.4 C in 1947. Authorities said the temperature was still rising, as a result of hot, dry air coming from northern Africa that's trapped between cold stormy systems.

London expects to see 39 C. And swaths of Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland could face temperatures exceeding 40 C.

In Belgium, the meteorological institute said the nation saw temperatures rise past the 40 C mark for the first time since records were kept in 1833. 

Germany recorded 40.5 degrees Wednesday, and the German Weather Service is expecting even higher temperatures Thursday.

In Austria, a 2-year-old died of dehydration in the country's Styria region after he climbed into an overheated parked car without his family noticing and fell asleep in it.

The Austrian news agency APA reported Thursday that the boy, who climbed into a car parked at the family's farm on Monday, died at a children's hospital on Wednesday.

In the Netherlands, a government health institute warned of high levels of smog due to ozone in the air in parts of the country.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment issued a "smog alarm" Thursday for regions including the densely populated cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.

The institute said air quality in the some regions will be "extremely bad" because light winds mean that pollution is not being blown away and sunlight transforms it into ozone. The smog can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, and leave people coughing and short of breath.

Across London and Paris, authorities and charity workers handed out water and sunscreen to homeless people and opened day centres for them to rest and shower.