‘It’s getting hotter and it’s not stopping’: dealing with the heat in five of Europe’s capitals

I n recent days across parts of Europe, temperatures have soared, heat records have been broken and spring has felt more like the height of summer. Météo France , the French national weather service, has attributed this to a “heat dome”, with warmth held in place by a high-pressure weather front that has produced temperatures more than 10C above what used to be usual for this time of year. Human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather around the world, driving deadly extremes that can strike at abnormal times in unusual places and claim lives. Guardian reporters in five European capitals spoke to tourists and locals about how they have experienced this most recent period of unseasonable May heat, and their worries about what the climate emergency might mean for the future. Madrid, Spain People carrying parasols in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor. Photograph: Pablo Garcia/The Guardian The swifts hurling themselves through the almost cloudless sky over Madrid’s Plaza Mayor on Tuesday appeared to be the only living things immune to the unseasonably high temperatures. Beneath them, tour groups moved sluggishly through the square, waiters fidgeted around freshly laid tables and caricature artists sat listlessly in front of their easels. Jim, a visitor from Sydney, spoke for the majority of his fellow tourists when asked how he and his wife, Marina, were dealing with the May heatwave. “These are not at all the temperatures we were expecting,” he said. …