Temperatures between 104 and 110 degrees (40 to 43 Celsius) were common from Spain to Germany. The most extreme temperatures compared to normal focused in France, where monthly and even all-time records were broken.
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I went home on leave from Germany to the Central Valley of California in the summer of 1980.
When I left Germany, it was normal weather for June with temps in the 70s. Temperatures in California were also normal at 95-100+ degrees.
The first few days I was home I didn't do much of anything because of the heat, but I got used to it.
When I returned to Germany 45 days later, we were in a heat wave with temps right at 95-100 degrees and Germans were dying like flies because nobody had air conditioning, elderly people being affected the hardest. The local governments were issuing all kinds of common sense tips on how to stay cool - shit like opening up the house early in the morning and shutting all the windows and doors when it started to warm up, don't use the stove in an already overheated home, restrict all activity as much as possible during the heat of the day, etc.
Not once did I see a mention of taking a cold bath or shower during the day to cool down. Not even once. And judging by the aroma of the people around town, they didn't figure it out either.
