France heatwave warnings sharpened on Monday as French authorities placed 49 of the country's 96 mainland departments on a red danger-to-life alert. Temperatures were forecast to rise above 40C across western France and central France, with Météo-France saying the heat would stay exceptionally high through the week.
The warning covered about half of mainland France and came with a direct appeal to the public: 35 million people were urged to exercise "absolute vigilance". Météo-France said "Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term across the country" and added that "Day and night-time temperatures will be exceptional."
Météo-France warns of record heat
Météo-France said temperatures in western France and central France would likely exceed 40C from Monday afternoon. Bordeaux was forecast to reach 43C, Limoges 41C, Toulouse 40C, Tours 40C and Paris 39C. The agency said temperatures would continue rising until the end of the week, while night-time lows would stay far higher than normal for the season until at least Friday.
That forecast followed a hot Sunday, when several towns and cities set all-time overnight minimum temperature records. France's national heat index was expected to hit its highest ever level on Monday or Tuesday, a sign that the most punishing part of the spell was still building rather than easing.
Schools and trains in France
More than 800 schools closed nationwide on Monday, and another 1,800 rescheduled classes so pupils could leave early. One in 10 regional train services around Paris was cancelled amid fears for rolling stock and tracks. For readers moving through the day in Paris, Bordeaux, Limoges, Toulouse or Tours, the practical effect was not abstract: school timetables shifted, rail frequencies thinned and the safest option was to cut unnecessary exposure during the hottest hours.
Stéphanie Rist, France's health minister, was visiting a Paris hospital when she said many people were going to suffer because bodies suffer from an accumulation of high temperatures. She urged people to check on elderly and vulnerable neighbours. That advice matched the warning structure: a red alert signals the highest level of danger, while the orange alert used for another 40 departments marks serious risk but a lower threshold than the red level.
Gironde and wider Europe
Local officials in the south-west Gironde region said the deaths of three people aged between 80 and 95 on Sunday were in part due to the intense heat. Emergency services also said 10 people drowned in swimming accidents, including a 13-year-old boy. Those figures show how the heatwave is already pressing on daily routines and emergency response, even before the week reaches its expected peak.
France also went ahead with the annual Fête de la Musique on Sunday even as some local authorities called it off and others restricted it to evening events. That split response left a familiar summer celebration operating under different local rules, with public planning now shaped less by the calendar than by whether a town could keep people safe through the hottest hours.
Across Europe, Spain declared its first official heatwave of the year from Sunday until Wednesday, with temperatures in Spain forecast to reach 44C in some areas. Aemet warned of "extremely high" day and night temperatures for the season and said "Temperatures will start to drop on Thursday, but the heat will remain intense". In Belgium, David Dehenauw of the IRM said the weather would be "the hottest ever recorded", and some rush-hour trains were cancelled to limit breakdown risk. The question for France now is how long the red alerts and exceptional night-time heat will last beyond Friday, when Météo-France's current warning window ends.
