France records its hottest month ever as July 2026 hits 24.9°C average, surpassing the deadly 2003 heatwave

A new national record

France has just lived through its hottest month since measurements began in 1900. Météo-France, the national weather office, announced on Tuesday 4 August that July 2026 reached an average temperature of 24.9°C (76.82°F). That figure surpasses the previous all-time monthly records set during the catastrophic heatwave of August 2003 (24.8°C) and July 2006 (24.4°C).

The excess over the 1991–2020 baseline, a period already shaped by human-driven warming, reached +3.8°C for mean temperatures and +5.2°C for maximum temperatures. Météo-France noted this is the second-highest monthly anomaly ever recorded in the country, behind only February 1990 (+4.0°C).

Two heatwaves, one still underway

July was defined by two distinct heatwaves. The first ran from 4 July to 19 July and ranks as the third-longest heatwave ever documented in France. The second began on 28 July and was still in progress when the monthly bulletin was published on 4 August. Across the month, temperatures repeatedly exceeded 35°C and locally hit 40°C, with Marignane in Bouches-du-Rhône reaching 40.5°C, an absolute record for the station regardless of month.

Nighttime offered little relief. The nights of 13 and 14 July were the hottest nationally, with minimum temperatures averaging 19.1°C. Around twenty stations stayed above 25°C overnight, setting new nocturnal heat records. On the overseas territory of Mayotte, the mercury did not drop below 28.4°C in mid-July, the highest minimum temperature ever observed on the island.

Météo-France stressed that more than half of the 54 heatwaves recorded in France have occurred in the last 15 years. The agency said such episodes are becoming "more and more frequent," "starting earlier and earlier in the season," and reaching ever-higher temperatures.

Parched soils and a 70% rain deficit

July 2026 was also the third-driest July since rainfall records began in 1959, with a deficit of nearly 70% nationally and more than that across central and western France. The driest July was 2022 at 85% below normal, followed by 2020 at 75%. Water restriction orders are now in force in every mainland department and in Corsica. North of the Seine, as well as in Occitanie, the Côte d'Azur, and Corsica, virtually no rain fell. Sunshine was overwhelming, with an average surplus of 35%, making it the second-sunniest July after 2022 (+40%).

By the end of the month, soils were drier than at the same point in 2022 and 2025, reaching levels equivalent to the lowest ever recorded, last seen in August 2022. The drought is already affecting agriculture and fuelling vegetation fires, including blazes in the Gironde region near Bordeaux. Fire danger was rated high somewhere in the country every day of the month, peaking on 12 July with 70 departments on orange alert, and more than 90,000 hectares had burned by the end of July, nine times the average for 2016 to 2025.

What comes next

Météo-France's seasonal outlook for August, September, and October favours a scenario warmer than normal, driven by persistent anticyclonic blocking patterns. The agency cautioned that this is a climate trend, not a weather forecast, and does not guarantee further heatwaves. Still, with four episodes of intense heat already recorded since late May, including one historically severe spell at the end of June, the country remains on edge.

Several other European nations also endured scorching conditions in July, with temperatures approaching or exceeding 40°C in Hungary, Austria, and Greece.