The heatwave that struck France at the end of June was both unusually early and extremely intense, breaking records for France’s hottest days and also the hottest nights. At least 1,000 people have died and the final death toll will likely be considerably higher. Météo France is now predicting that another heatwave will strike from the weekend – so will this one be as bad? Most of France has been mercifully cooler since the start of the week, although some parts of the south-east are
still seeing very high temperatures. Overall, the temperatures are within seasonal norms. However, they will start to rise again from Saturday, July 4th, with heatwave conditions expected from Monday, July 6th. They are expected to last for around a week, until July 12th or 23rd. Alix Roumagnac, head of the Météo France subsidiary Predict Services, told France Info that France will be “on the margins” of the next heatwave, which is expected to be centred on Portugal and Spain. She said: “For the moment, the
indicators seem to be slightly below the extreme temperature values. “The high-pressure system will mainly affect western Spain and Portugal. “We have a forecast window of about ten days and, for the moment, we can see this heat dome settling in until around July 12th-13th, possibly followed by a passage of low-pressure systems bringing thunderstorms.” That doesn’t mean that there won’t be a heatwave, but that it will hopefully be slightly less intense than the June one. By Monday, the entire country is forecast to
have sunny weather with temperatures rising to 36C in the south-west and 32C. Météo France does not issue heatwave warnings more than 48 hours in advance, but it is expected that the rest of next week will be hot with the likelihood of yellow or orange alerts in some places. Mercifully, it appears at this stage that even during the hot days, temperatures will fall at night, allowing for cooler air and better sleep. June records The most recent heatwave set records for the hottest
overall day in France. Although the hottest temperature ever recorded in France (46C in Hérault during the 2019 heatwave) was not broken, the average temperature for the whole country broke records repeatedly. Night-time temperature records were also broken several times, with repeated ‘tropical nights’ where the temperature never fell below 20C, making it harder to sleep and increasing heat stress. The graphic below shows France’s all-time records for the five hottest days ever recorded – three of which are in June 2026 – plus the
hottest afternoon temperatures – four out of five in June 2026 – and the hottest nights, four out of five of which are in June 2026. Au cas où quelqu’un se demande encore si et/ou en quoi la #canicule de la semaine dernière est historique 👇🏻 (Via Météo-France) [image or embed] — Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 10:36 AM
France heatwave July 2026, Météo France, Alix Roumagnac, Predict Services, Portugal Spain heat dome, tropical nights, heatwave warnings, yellow alert orange alert, June 2026 deaths