France Shatters Temperature Records as Extreme Heat Grips Europe

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Western Europe is sweltering under record heat this week, with red alerts in place in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and France. France saw its hottest day…

Western Europe is sweltering under record heat this week, with red alerts in place in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and France.

France saw its hottest day ever recorded on Wednesday as the national average temperature, which averages day and night temperatures, reached 30C. It broke the record set only a day earlier.

Temperatures climbed as high as 42C in Nantes, a major metropolitan city in western France, as millions of people across the country continue to grapple with one of the most intense and long-lasting heatwaves the country has ever seen. The unprecedented temperatures prompted a record 58 of 96 mainland departments to be placed under red heatwave alerts – the highest warning level – on Wednesday. Conditions are expected to worsen further on Thursday, when a historic 72 departments will be under red alert.

Year after year, the pattern repeats – each iteration more severe than the last. Wildfires, warped rail lines, shuttered schools, and a climbing death toll are no longer freak occurrences; they are the definitive markers of the modern European summer.

During an emergency crisis meeting with other government officials on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said that since June 18, at least 40 people have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas such as lakes or canals, noting that “most of the victims are young people.” He called the drownings “a tragic scourge.”

Lecornu also described the heatwave as an “episode of exceptional intensity.” Yet the word “exceptional” seems somewhat inappropriate. This is France’s – and Western Europe’s – second heatwave in a month, and the national forecaster is already predicting a “high probability” of extreme heat returning in the second week of July.

France is also one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, welcoming more than 100 million visitors in 2025, many of them during the peak summer season.

Louvre officials said that “although parts of its historic building are naturally…

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