No, It is not my imagination, Paris is getting hotter with more heatwaves each summer! That is not necessarily a terrible thing, but it is becoming really difficult without air conditioning!
Heatwaves here are called a “canicule”, which has its roots in the Latin word for a dog, canis. As Sirius the brightest star in the southern hemisphere is within the Canis Major constellation and associated with summer it somehow came to denote summer heat.
Searing hot winds from the Sahara desert whipping across the Mediterranean sea are to blame and are responsible for setting newly recorded heat temperatures across Europe.
I never gave air conditioning much of thought here, because in the past there were only a few really hot uncomfortable summer days. Instead, I remember more complaining about the cold rainy ones in the middle of July and the cool August days where I often felt that my summer was stolen!
I never thought it was worth the trouble and expense of installing a central unit, given needing approval from the apartment syndic(co-owners) to putting a condenser outside.
Signs such as these are to be found everywhere and flashing reminders to drink water as if one needs to be reminded?
With Parisian summers becoming hotter, my thoughts are changing. Being cooler is now a major objective! 
Nowadays, I am looking into buying a portable air conditioner with a tube leading outside a balcony door. Not the best solution, but don’t see how to drill a large hole in these thick walls.
I hated the over air condition mentality I grew up within the South, so I was I happy as a clam to do without the frigid igloo like buildings you encounter in the states, where you feel like walking in Antarctica.
It was so habitually freezing cold in the hospital where I worked part-time, that I would turn off the air conditioner in my office just to feel comfortable, to the surprise and bewilderment of some of my patients.
Growing up in hotter than hades Louisiana summers I thought had given me tolerance of hot temperatures that Northern folks did not have. I remember my upstate New York grandmother saying that Southerners had “thinner blood” than Yankees, therefore could well tolerate scorching high temps.
If that be the case lol, then my blood has definitely reversed and thickened in the past 19 years of living here! I no longer snicker at Parisians fanning and spritzing themselves on the buses, which I now try to avoid in preference for the metro.
Paris remains for the most part quite un-air-conditioned! The vast majority of apartments here are not air-conditioned, and neither is the majority of public transports, especially buses and metro lines.!
Same goes for smaller restaurants, bistros and shops. Thinking that a tepid bowl of ceviche in a popular Peruvian restaurant would be a cool treat for dinner on a recent sizzling night proved to be a total mistake.
Though the small restaurant is well known and frequented, it wasn’t air-conditioned, nor was there a fan in sight. When I apprehensively walked in to check out the temp, it felt like an oven. Pity the wait staff and more so the cooks!
I was somewhat embarrassed to tell them why I was cancelling my reservation, but I said in all honesty that it was hotter inside than outside and would be way too uncomfortable to stay.
Sure, large grocery stores, department stores, cinemas and upscale hotel offer air conditioning but don’t expect them to be as cold as they are in the states.
I always thought it strange that cities in several European countries, much less wealthy than France had air-conditioned buses and subway cars!
In the summer, 94% of Parisian buses are ovens on wheels. Woe to anyone sitting on the side where the sun comes in! Better to get off and walk or take the metro, which isn’t much cooler!
For some odd reason, the politicos who make decisions regarding the comfort of passengers on public transports here came up with utilizing a system called “ventilation réfrigérée” on the subways instead of plain old air conditioning. What a misnomer!
Refrigerated air it is not! Air taken in from the outside is circulated within the subway cars or buses, reducing the interior temperatures somewhat, but not cooling them per se. Not much help to have hot air blowing, but of course better than nothing!
I was on line 4 metro yesterday, said to be the most heat-producing line and is was quite breezy as subway trains go, but not cool. Line 3 was worse.
The trams circulating around the periphery of the city are said to be air conditioned but only mildly so in my opinion. Barely air conditioned seems to be preferable here, except for a few large supermarkets.
With the Summer Olympics coming to Paris in 2024, there apparently has been enough pressure to change the directional thoughts along to air condition or not.
Not wanting to face foreseen complaints from the expected increased flocks of tourists and lose face with other major cities, Valérie Pécresse, president of Ile de France vows to see that Parisian transports will all be air conditioned within 5 years. Thank you Summer Olympics if that pans out true!
I was initially hoping to avoid the upcoming heatwave by going to the Swiss or French Alps. No escape really as they are predicting 36C or 96.8 in the mountains and Switzerland is less air conditioned than France.
As for me, I am just hoping to make it through another heatwave, the second in just a month’s time. Days aren’t so bad, but the nights are really difficult at best.
I tried putting frozen bottles of water in front of the fan, but I really have not noticed much difference and the water quickly melts.
The most effective thing for cooling is going to bed with a damped or wet nightshirt. The ensuing evaporation does cool the skin in the fan’s breeze but you have to re-wet several times during the night.
Opening my balcony doors during the night to cool the place down and then shutting them till the later afternoon works somewhat with the help of strategically placed fans.
The downside is the constant noise of city traffic at night, especially motos, police and ambulance sirens and a few drunk souls singing in the wee morning hours.
Enough whining about this uncomfortable but not earth-shaking situation and besides I am tired and getting hot writing this whole thing.
Better to head toward the gym, which thank heavens is nicely air conditioned and then wander around cool grocery aisles pretending on deciding what to buy.
Hoping that the predicted 42C (107.6) Thursday in Paris won’t happen! Stay cool my friends where ever you are!
Here’s to the return of cooler days and nights in the city of light and love!