PARIS (Reuters) - France saw new all-time record temperatures on Friday afternoon as a sweltering heatwave engulfed much of southern and central Europe, French state weather agency Meteo France said.

In Villevieille, in the southern Gard region near Nimes, temperatures rose to a record 45.1 degrees Celsius (113.18 Fahrenheit) mid-afternoon, just hours after a previous record of 44.3 degrees was set in Carpentras, about 100 kilometers east of Villevieille.

“We need to wait until the end of the day to know which town will hold the record of France’s hottest town,” Meteo France said on its website.

The country’s previous record was 44.3 Celsius, reached during the deadly heatwave of 2003.