A woman cools off in Bordeaux on August 8, 2025, as a heatwave spreads across the south of France. PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP
The heatwave that began Friday, the second to hit France this summer, extended on Sunday, August 10, to almost the entire southern half of the country, with French weather forecaster Météo-France placing 42 departments under an orange heatwave alert and seven under a yellow alert.
"On Sunday, following the trend of previous days, the heat will intensify again in the south," the national forecasting service warned on Saturday. Temperatures were expected to "frequently" reach 40°C, or even surpass that mark, in the Hérault, Var, and the southern parts of the Ardèche and Drôme departments. At the hottest point of the day, 42°C was forecast for Nîmes and 40°C for Perpignan, with peaks of 38°C in Bordeaux and Toulouse.
From the Pyrénées-Atlantiques to the Jura, and from Charente-Maritime to the Alpes-Maritimes, 42 departments in the southern half of the country are classified under an orange heatwave alert. Five additional departments further north, from Vendée to Côte-d'Or, are under a yellow alert, as are both departments in Corsica.
This heatwave, which "requires particular vigilance, especially for vulnerable or exposed individuals," stressed Météo-France, could intensify at the start of the week.
