The current heat wave equals the record duration of July 1983

The current heat wave is the longest ever recorded in France, tied with July 1983, with 23 days of almost general heatwave across the country, franceinfo learned from Météo-France on Thursday August 20. “The heat wave continued yesterday (Wednesday) with the final ITN at 24.7°C,” reports Météo-France. The ITN being the National Thermal Indicator, i.e. the average of temperatures over 30 reference stations.

In 2026, mainland France will experience three heat waves: 14 days in June; 16 days in July; 23 days since the end of July. Since June 17, three days of calm have intervened between the first two heatwaves, then eight days of calm between the second heat wave and the current one.

Since Tuesday, there is no longer any department concerned by an orange “heatwave” vigilance in the country. But five departments are placed on orange “storms” vigilance on Thursday: Ardèche, Isère, Drôme, Var and Alpes-Maritimes. Friday, from 6 a.m., the two departments of Corsica will also be affected by an orange storm alert.