Power outages hit France as record heatwave set to peak

[malaise]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78y4102n1zo

Tens of thousands of homes in western France are without power, with temperatures set to peak across the country on Wednesday during a record-breaking heatwave.
About 68,000 homes in Brittany have been affected, with electricity unlikely to be fully restored until Wednesday night at the earliest, authorities said.
More than half of the country remains under a red heat alert, with a high of 43C (109.4F) possible later in the day in the southwest, according to forecaster Météo France.
The peak comes after the country experienced its hottest day since records began on Tuesday, with an average temperature of 29.8C (85.54F).

[dalton99a]

1. From cool-down spots to chalk on windows - how Europe is coping with the heat

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0j87vpz79o

From cool-down spots to chalk on windows - how Europe is coping with the heat

...

Schools are also adapting. Many are moving to "tropical" timetables in the coming days, with shorter school days or fewer lessons, more breaks, extra drinks and increased ventilation.

Each school decides its own measures as there is no legal maximum classroom temperature.

The town hall of the 10th arrondissement of Paris is offering free cinema tickets to help people get out of the heat.

According to French newspapers, there has been a run on a chalky product called Blanc de Meudon, or Meudon Whiting, in DIY shops.

The powder is mixed with water and then painted on windows, thus diminishing the power of the sun's rays and in theory bringing down the inside temperature. It does actually seem to work.

...


https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/power-cuts-france-leave-thousands-sweltering-amid-scorching-heatwave-2026-06-24/

More heat records expected as deadly 'Omega' heatwave grips Europe
By Makini Brice, Sarah Young and Giselda Vagnoni
June 24, 2026 2:10 AM CDT

...

Europe is warming at more than twice the global average, the World Meteorological Organization has said, which makes prolonged heat episodes increasingly likely.

Nuclear power plants that provide most of the electricity in France reduced their output by about 7% of electricity demand on Wednesday, as high temperatures reduced access to cooling water.

...

[Johnny2X2X]

2. It's 110 degrees in Bordeaux today

The grapes are extremely stressed and it will be interesting to see how they turn out. There was a heat wave in 2003 that really hurt Bordeaux wins from that year, but the region has adapted and put a lot in place to try to not have a repeat of that.

40 people drowning is such a tragedy.

[malaise]

3. 86 in my neighborhood and we're complaining about heat😀

Damn!

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Europe was the sweet spot for thousands of years

You had the proximity to the artic and the ocean currents to regulate temperature in the Summer and then the Gulf Stream that was pushed to the surface by cooler artic waters in the Winter to regular the Winter. It's why most of the continent's houses and office buildings were built without air conditioning in mind.

It's a nightmare. 105 degrees inside of old homes without air conditioning is more than miserable, it's dangerous. This isn't like the desert SW in America where everything was built with extreme heat in mind and everything has air conditioning. These are homes that weren't even built with airflow in mind, because you just didn't have to think about hat as much.

[malaise]

5. Yep

Humans are self destructive.

[dalton99a]

6. It is now an unpleasant place to visit in the summer

[DFW]

7. It's 38 C (100F) out there today, and no, my house has no air conditioning.

Blm, if you're reading this, baby blm's room was downstairs, so it is about 15° C cooler than outside, but it is kind of sweltering out there once we leave the house. German summers used to be considered hot if they made it to 30° C (86° F). I can only imagine what it's like down in Spain. Actually, if I get the green light, I'll find out next week.

I called down to my offices in Paris and Geneva, and they are really suffering down there.

[malaise]

8. Drink lots of water

😀

[DFW]

11. Now THERE'S an idea!!

Thanks! (Why didn't I think of that?)

[malaise]

13. Jamaica has never been that hot

Our highest recorded. temperature was 39.1°C (102.4°F). This record-breaking heat was documented by the Meteorological Service of Jamaica in the capital city of Kingston on June 22, 2019

[DFW]

14. The surrounding sea used to be a mitigating factor

My younger daughter wss in school on Hawa’i’s Big Island for two years, and it was the same there. We haven’t been back recently—the last time was 2022. I don’t know if it has warmed up any, but they probably haven’t escaped the warming completely. Maybe the smaller islands like Kawai’i?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. 35 and humid for me in South Hampshire

https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/eastleigh/so50-9/current-weather/323593

I don't know how good their "RealFeel" measure is, but they've put us at "RealFeel Shade™ 38°". Not as much as Paris (41), but more than, say, Bonn (36). It really is a "work out how little you can move" day.

[rollin74]

9. BBC: Air conditioning creates political divide after France records hottest day

With temperatures soaring, France is being forced to re-think its longstanding reservations about one possible answer to climate change: air-con.

This week debate about la clim (climatisation) has once again burst out, with Marine Le Pen on the populist right urging a mass subsidised roll-out and traditionally hostile Greens conceding that some air-conditioning may now be inevitable.

Currently the country has a low take-up, with only 25% of households equipped with an air-con unit. In Spain and Italy the figure is 50%, and in the US and Japan 90%.

French hospitals and schools are also only rarely equipped. Thousands of schools have had to shut this week, and medical and nursing staff complain of conditions fast becoming intolerable.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gyqldl3p5o?

[keep_left]

12. I remember learning in high school French...

…class that France is an “energy poor” country. They rely heavily on nuclear power for their energy needs, which the article implies has its problems as the global temperature rises (the cooling water temperature also increases). They have adopted a number of energy-sparing technologies. As just one example, milk is UHT-processed so that it is shelf-stable; the French consider our massive dairy coolers extremely wasteful. Spend some time in the country, and you will find many examples of this energy efficiency in use.

It’s been a long time since I was there, but I do recall the lack of AC in most buildings and homes. I’m surprised that hasn’t changed in the intervening decades, but it seems to be a part of the culture that is quite resistant to change.