France, this year, recorded its hottest summer since measurements began more than a century ago, the environment minister Monique Barbut said on Thursday.
Speaking at a presentation of the climate report covering the months of June, July and August, Barbut said “We have experienced the hottest summer ever recorded since measurements began in 1900.”
According to national weather agency Meteo France, the summer of 2026 recorded an average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius covering day and nighttime. It's 3.6 C above the normal average, and higher than in 2003, when temperatures were 2.7 C above normal.
Firefighters relentlessly tackled wildfires through out the summer, even in normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany, as France experienced one of its driest years ever.
A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux and forced a quarter of a million people to evacuate from their homes.
