France Records Its Hottest Summer Since Measurements Began over a Century Ago
France saw 53 heatwave days this summer, with wildfires burning six times the average area and thousands of excess deaths, officials said.
- Environment Minister Monique Barbut announced on Thursday that France experienced its hottest summer since 1900. "We have just lived through the hottest summer ever recorded since measurements began in 1900," Barbut said.
- The weather service Meteo-France reported 53 days of heatwave conditions, a "completely unprecedented number," while scientists recorded more than 7,300 excess deaths as France joined Britain and Belgium in record heat.
- Intense heat fueled major French wildfires, with burned areas reaching six times the 20-year average by end of August. "By the end of August, forest fires had already burned six times more area than the average of the last twenty years," Barbut said.
- Schools faced closures during the extreme heat, forcing residents to rush on fans and air conditioning units. Barbut acknowledged "situations for which we could have been better prepared" while planning immediate cooling measures.
- Barbut promised a five-year funding plan "by the end of September" to address climate adaptation. She questioned whether this summer marks "the first in a long series of summers that continue to break records" or a turning point.
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France recorded unprecedented temperatures in the summer of 2026 since the beginning of the measurements, in 1900, with 53 days of heat, drought and vegetation fires that affected surfaces six times higher than the average of the last two decades.
The summer of 2026 is the hottest time ever recorded in France since the beginning of the temperature surveys. Will this climate news impact the election campaign and make ecology the central theme? Franceinfo interviewed the contenders at the Elysée.
France this year recorded hottest summer since measurements began
According to Meteo France, the summer of 2026 recorded an average temperature of 24 °C covering day and nighttime, 3.6 C above the normal average, and higher than in 2003, when temperatures were 2.7 C above normal.
The summer of 2026 in France became the hottest in the history of the country's meteoric observations, announced on Thursday by the French Minister for Environmental Change, Monica Barbew. "We have experienced the hottest summer in the history of meteor observations since 1900," she quoted from BFM-TV.
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