France braces for record heatwave as red alerts widen nationwide

Extreme heat was forcing France’s public systems to stagger before the country reached peak temperatures, with 49 mainland departments under red alert and at least 845 schools closed Monday. Another 40 departments were on orange alert as the prolonged early-summer heatwave spread across the Paris region, the west coast and swathes of the centre and south.

Météo-France warned Monday could rank among the hottest days ever recorded in France, with temperatures forecast to reach 41C nationally, 42C in Bordeaux and more than 40C in parts of western France. The agency said the heatwave was widespread, long-lasting and intense, and expected it to peak on Sunday or Monday before lingering into the end of the week if cooling did not arrive.

The scale of the red alert marked the most extensive heat warning ever issued in mainland France. Nearly 35 million people live in the affected departments, including almost 4 million people aged 75 or older, underscoring the strain on older adults, isolated residents and those with chronic illness. President Emmanuel Macron urged people to check on elderly, isolated and vulnerable neighbors, while Health Minister Stéphanie Rist warned young people to be careful with alcohol and physical activity in the heat.

Schools were among the first public institutions to buckle. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said around 1,800 more schools were shortening classes or sending pupils home early, while hundreds of thousands of high school students sat oral baccalaureate exams this week. Île-de-France authorities announced €1 million in emergency funding to help exam centres buy cooling equipment, a sign that adaptation is now an immediate budget item rather than a distant planning exercise.

The consequences were already visible. France had recorded heat-related deaths during the spell, including a 30-year-old man who died near Paris, and officials in Gironde said the deaths of three people aged 80 to 95 were partly due to the intense heat. Local authorities also cancelled some public events, including parts of the annual Fête de la Musique, while the government banned alcohol consumption in public places in red-alert departments to reduce health risks.

The crisis came after France’s hottest spring since records began in 1900, with March-to-May temperatures about 1.7C above normal. It was the country’s second heatwave of 2026, following an unusually hot spell in May that broke records across half the country. Forecasters warned the current event could become as serious as the August 2003 heatwave, which killed nearly 15,000 people in France, a reminder that extreme heat is no longer a seasonal nuisance but a test of whether schools, health services and local government can still function.