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High temperatures are also expected in Bordeaux over the weekend
Photo: PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP
A heat wave with temperatures of up to 35 degrees causes temperature records to tumble in France.
In the south in Montélimar, for example, it was 32.9 degrees on Tuesday, the hottest on a May day in 1945, according to the French weather service.
On the island of Île de Bréhat, on the north coast of Brittany, a record for a May day from 1922 was broken with 27.8 degrees.
In Lyon it was warmer than 30 degrees for five days in a row, the last time this was in May 1945.
It is already becoming apparent that May will surpass the hottest May so far in 2011, the weather service explains.
However, the temperatures in no way indicated an unusually hot summer.
In 16 departments, farmers and private households are already being asked to use water sparingly, the Ministry of the Environment reports.
In 22 departments there is an increased risk of drought, reports the broadcaster France Info.
40 degrees in Spain and Morocco
Spain is also suffering from high temperatures.
The heat has not come into the country as early as it has been in 20 years, according to the National Weather Service (AEMET).
Accordingly, the highest temperatures ever measured for the month of May could be reached by the weekend.
According to AEMET, heat waves have always started a month later in previous decades.
Up to 40 degrees could be reached in Seville, Córdoba and Zaragoza.
In addition, there are so-called tropical nights, in which the temperatures are above 20 degrees.
Temperatures are not only rising sharply in Europe.
It is also very hot in Morocco.
In the city of Marrakech, which is popular with tourists, temperatures have recently exceeded the 40-degree mark several times.
An end to the heat wave is not in sight for the time being.
Last summer, numerous temperature records were broken in Morocco.
At the beginning of May, India was hit by an unusually early heat wave.
Millions of residents of the subcontinent had suffered a heat unprecedented at this time of year since weather records began 122 years ago (read more here).
bam/dpa
