France has officially recorded its hottest summer since national measurements began more than a century ago, Environment Minister Monique Barbut announced on Thursday. During a presentation of a climate report covering June, July, and August, Barbut confirmed that the summer of 2026 stands as the warmest period since record-keeping commenced in 1900.
According to the national weather agency, Meteo France, the summer recorded an average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 degrees Fahrenheit), accounting for both day and nighttime readings. This average is 3.6 C (6.5 F) above the normal level, surpassing the previous record set in 2003, when temperatures were 2.7 C (4.9 F) above the norm. The season was defined by an unprecedented 53 days of heat waves across three distinct episodes, significantly exceeding the 33 days recorded in the summer of 2022.
The extreme heat was accompanied by one of the driest years in French history. Meteo France reported a rainfall deficit of nearly 40%, making it the second-driest summer on record. These conditions fueled relentless wildfires that persisted throughout the season, affecting even typically cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany. A historic fire near Bordeaux was particularly devastating, forcing the evacuation of a quarter of a million people from their homes.
Environmental impacts extended to the coastlines of mainland France and Corsica, where record-breaking ocean temperatures were documented. Meteo France noted that severe heat spells occurring outside the traditional summer months, such as last May and early September, are clear indicators of climate change. This trend is consistent with broader patterns across Europe, which the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service identifies as the world’s fastest-warming continent. Since the 1980s, temperatures in Europe have been increasing at twice the speed of the global average.
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