France records hottest day ever as Europe suffers brutal heat wave
Schools closed and hospitals strained as temperatures neared 40C, with France’s average daily temperature reaching a record 29.8C, officials said.
- On Tuesday, France experienced its hottest day on record, forcing city dwellers to endure extreme heat as temperatures approached danger levels. The crisis triggered a nationwide re-evaluation of the country's longstanding reservations regarding air-conditioning.
- Only about 25% of French homes have air-conditioning, as building norms previously prioritized insulation over cooling systems. Environmentalists long viewed air-conditioning as aggravating climate change rather than solving it.
- Marine called for a nationwide "plan clim" to equip schools and hospitals. Ecologists party head Marie Tondelier stated, "There are places where we just can't do without it now," breaking with past "anti-clim dogma."
- National Rally spokesman Jean-Philippe Tanguy proposed $22.7bn in interest-free loans to help 30 to 40 million householders install cooling units. Critics denounced the plan as opportunistic and uncosted.
- Valerie, who controls Paris regional transport, aims to equip all buses and trains with air-conditioning by 2032. A new hospital in Nantes continues facing scrutiny over limited cooling capacity in only half its rooms.
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39 Articles
By CNN: The relentless heatwave that has shattered hundreds of June records—and even all-time records—across Western Europe in recent days is hitting the continent hard. The extreme conditions are due to a “heat dome,” a high-pressure weather system that can trap heat for days, even weeks. The heat has been intensified by climate change, caused by humans burning fossil fuels. France recorded its hottest day ever on Wednesday, with an average tem…
France records its hottest day with relief on the horizon
With an average day-night temperature of 30°C, June 24 set a new heat record in France. Forecasters expect a gradual end to the heatwave in the western part of the country by the end of the week. High temperatures will persist until next Tuesday or Wednesday in the rest of the country.
A wave of heat that spanned Western Europe led to a series of unprecedented temperatures, with France recording the hottest day in history, Britain having record temperatures for June, and Spain reaching the highest average daily since 1950, reports BBC.
Follow this new day of heatwave, this Wednesday, June 24, 2026, live, all day, on ladepeche.fr.
The 40°C threshold was exceeded on about 20% of the territory between Monday and Wednesday. A record of 43.8°C was reached in Vendée.
France recorded Wednesday, June 24, the warmest day in history, exceeding the record set on Tuesday, according to Weather-France. The national thermal indicator, the average of the day and night temperatures recorded in 30 reference stations, reached 30°C, according to provisional data set on Wednesday at local time 17:00 by the public institution. Next night will be one of the hottest recorded ever, Thursday canicle expands, but the risk of sto…
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