UN representatives call it a brutal reminder of the spiralling impacts of the climate crisis. A so-called heat dome is driving temperatures around Europe into record-breaking territory, and experts warn it could be just a taste of what is to come.

From Paris to Milan, people are doing whatever they can to stay cool and hydrated, with temperatures topping 35 degrees. In Western Germany the record May temperatures were used as an excuse to start the swimming season early. However, experts warn the rising mercury is putting lives at risk.

Farmers say crops are planted only once a year and need a period of stable, sustainable weather to grow. The unpredictable weather is making that harder, which makes it more difficult to put food on the table.

They are certain that, because of human-caused warming, the underlying temperatures are becoming hotter. This means that whenever heat waves occur, they are more intense and more dangerous — regardless of whether the events themselves are becoming more frequent.

Seven people died directly or indirectly because of the hot weather. Two were taking part in amateur sports competitions in Lyon and Paris; five drowned after being swept away by rip currents while swimming in lakes or rivers. Authorities point out there are not yet enough swimming guards in place, as the May heat wave was unexpected — and it was the hottest day registered in French history.

Over recent years it has produced a number of adaptation plans, looking at how to adapt insurance and building insulation, and at new rules so that new buildings are geared up for extreme heat. It is also focusing on how people themselves need to adapt to a hotter climate.

Former mayor Anne Hidalgo planted many trees, pedestrianised certain areas to reduce car traffic (which drives up heat), installed water fountains and fogging machines that spray a wet mist as you walk through. The current mayor has recently kept public parks open until midnight, since trees cool the air by several degrees.

Scientists say it is quite unusual for May but they are not surprised it can happen, since climate change means more extreme weather phenomena — periods of either extreme cold or extreme heat. They say such hot periods could happen more often in the future, so people really need to adapt.

To cope with the heat she drinks a lot of water, walks more slowly, and gets out of her flat (she lives on the fifth floor just under the roof) to spend time in parks. She keeps the windows open at night and hangs up wet cloths near them to cool the air, and uses energy-efficient cooling such as a fan.

They have opened a number of public buildings where people can go to cool down, and set up patrols to check on the elderly. These patrols visit them and, if needed, take them somewhere cooler, because the heat is especially dangerous for elderly people and those with an underlying health condition.

With more than a century of European records, you would normally expect to break them by only fractions of a degree. Instead, records are being broken by two, three, four, even five degrees at individual stations, and by two or three degrees across whole countries — which he considers crazy.

He says it is the inevitable consequence of two centuries of emitting heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Scientists knew this would happen, perhaps not at this ferocity, and although there is always some weather involved, the underlying fingerprint of human impact on the climate is undeniable. Such events will only become more frequent and severe with further climate change.

He says there have been heat domes throughout the 100-plus years of climate observation, but none have come close to this ferocity and duration at this point in the year. So we are undoubtedly seeing some aspect of climate change. Formal attribution will take time, but he has no doubt scientists will quantify that climate change made it much more severe — he just can’t give a precise number yet.

No — he says scientists are the least surprised. They have always said climate change is not linear: the temperature change may be linear, but the impacts are highly non-linear and will emerge increasingly rapidly as the climate warms. This has been crystal clear to scientists for two or three decades, as seen in the IPCC working group two reports on impacts and adaptation.

He means the climate will only get worse from now on unless and until we cease emitting greenhouse gases — and even stopping would only halt the worsening, not magically return us to the pleasant pre-industrial climate. In other words, this is as good as it gets, and how much worse it becomes is down to us.

Right now his main worry is adapting to what we are already seeing, but the harder we push the climate system, the greater the risk of “wild card” events and tipping points — of which AMOC (Gulf Stream) collapse is just one. His solution: stop emitting greenhouse gases and burning fossil fuels. He adds there are many other reasons to do this — economic security, social cohesion, prosperity — with climate benefits as a bonus.

He says several things in the world today are pushing us towards climate action anyway, which can only be good, but climate scientists have not been listened to as they should have been since 1990. If the actions called for over the last four decades had been taken, we would not now be in such an economic mess with our dependency on fossil fuels.

Not prepared at all. He has no air conditioning himself, and very few Irish houses have it or would even consider it. As chair of the adaptation committee for Ireland’s climate council, he says they have repeatedly warned the government for the past five years that the country is “asleep at the wheel” and needs to take more meaningful action — because protecting citizens is the one thing governments must do.