Weather experts warn France's unusually late heatwave is reason for alarm

Most of the south of France is now on red alert for extreme heat, with temperatures forecast to reach 42 degrees Celsius on Wednesday and Thursday. It marks the first time that France has experienced a severe heatwave in late August, and climate experts say it is a worrying sign of things to come.

A man splashes his face with water from a public fountain in Paris on 21 August 2023. Tens of millions of people in southern France are sweltering through a late summer heatwave this week. © Miguel MEDINA / AFP

"On a national level, it is the first time that such an intense heatwave has been observed this late in the summer," says state weather service Météo France. 

Temperatures in France hit an all-time high for late August on Tuesday, it said, with parts of the south-east reaching close to 43 C.

The nationwide average temperature over 24 hours hit 27.1 C, Météo France announced on Wednesday. According to the weather service, such continuously high temperatures have never been seen so late in summer in records going back to 1947.

Authorities have now issued red alerts, the maximum warning level, for 19 departments in the south of mainland France. Another 37 are on orange alert, the second-highest.

🔴 19 départements en Rouge
🔶 37 départements en Orange et l'Andorre pic.twitter.com/WJX6POkVQt

— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) August 23, 2023

Residents have been struggling with oppressive heat for days, with temperatures barely dropping off at night.

"We open all the windows at night and during the day we close all the shutters. When we're trying to go to sleep at midnight, it's still hot," Eric Chaupitre, who lives in the village of Saint-Mamans in the Drôme, one of the departments on red alert, told RFI.

He avoids going outside from around 11am until the evening, he says.

"There's nothing you can do. As soon as you go outside, you're just wiped out by this suffocating heat. It's very dry, stifling – basically overpowering when you're out in it."

'New normal'

Météo France expects the heat to last at least throughout Thursday.

This week is only the sixth time that France has declared a red heatwave alert since it introduced its warning system in 2004. Every other maximum alert – in 2019, 2020 and 2022 – has come in June, July or early August. 

By this point in the summer, meteorologists would usually expect the heat to be tailing off – but not anymore.

• What is France's heatwave warning system and how does it work?

"Late heatwaves are not normal, especially in France," says Davide Faranda, a researcher in climate physics at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS. 

Such events are historically associated with countries further south. But climate experts have warned Europe to brace for heatwaves both earlier and later in the summer due to global warming.

"This is the new normal and does not come as a surprise," said World Meteorological Organisation climatologist Alvaro Silva at a briefing on Tuesday, referring to what the UN agency has called a "summer of extremes" worldwide.

"The frequency and intensity of many extremes, such as heatwaves and heavy precipitation, have increased in recent decades. There is high confidence that human-induced climate change from greenhouse emissions, is the main driver."

Life under strain

The result is longer, hotter, drier summers that multiply the stress on wildlife and humans alike.

"Some parts of the Mediterranean have been under these heatwave conditions practically since mid-June and it hasn't rained in vast regions of Spain, Italy and Greece," Faranda told RFI.

He warns that the heat and drought affecting much of Europe – including southern France – increases the risks of wildfires, crop damage and harm to the wider environment.

• Europe shows signs of easing drought, but water tables still sapped

"It's worrying above all for vegetation and wildlife," says Faranda, who specialises in extreme weather events. "Certain plants are in their growth phase and that will be interrupted, while animals won't be able to follow their usual reproduction patterns."

In the Drôme, residents can already see the impact, says Chaupitre.

"We can see that nature is starting to really suffer. It's very dry everywhere, the vegetation, the trees," he reports. 

The long, hot summer is also taking its toll on local people, he says: "It's tough, everyone is under strain."