The stifling sequence that the country has just experienced has struck regions often spared, such as Brittany. A peak was reached on August 12, with 14 departments in red vigilance, and 64 in orange.
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No more department is on orange or red “heat wave”, Tuesday August 19. Temperatures drop and thunderstorms are coming to the south of the country. Arrived by the southwest quarter, the heat wave, which started on Friday August 8, marked the spirits both by its duration and its intensity. For several days in a row, the mercury went up to more than 40 ° C in more than 260 weather stations. Only Normandy was spared. Franceinfo takes stock of this second heat wave of summer in three graphics.
1 Among the ten most intense heat waves
This stifling sequence of eleven days ranks among the most intense ten that the French have known since 1947. It remains however “A notch below” The one who lasted sixteen days and made nearly 15,000 dead in 2003, explains Christine Berne, climatologist at Météo-France. According to the first estimates, the maximum average temperature of the recent heat wave runs “Around 27.5 ° C”against 29.35 ° C 22 years ago.
It is also less hard than the first heat wave of summer 2025 which hit France and Corsica from June 19 to July 4 (28.2 ° C). “We will be a little lower in intensity And a little shorter “, confirms Christine Berne.
2 Up to 78 departments in red or orange alert
Over the days, the number of departments affected has continued to increase. A peak was reached on August 12, with 14 departments On “heat wave” red vigilance, and 64 in orange, according to the bulletin broadcast by Météo-France at 6 am. The departments of the Southwest remained on red vigilance for two days. Even Brittany, often spared by these extreme heat, was concerned during this period. Finistère and Morbihan remained on orange alert two days, on August 16 and 17. Only Normandy has escaped this heat wave.
The hot weather extended throughout the territory even pushed the SNCF to cancel certain trips. These unpleasant surprises for passengers concerned the journeys on the Bordeaux-Marseille, Paris-Clermont Ferrand and Paris-Toulouse lines. Preventive cancellations, due to lack of quite effective air conditioning on board coral trains that circulate on these lines.
3 Fifteen absolute records of beaten temperatures
Several cities have seen the thermometers get carried away and several heat records have been broken. In 15 stations, this is a peak never reached since the start of measures. In Angoulême (Charente) or Saint-Emilion (Gironde), the previous references dated the heat wave of 2003. The town of Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme) broke twice in sixty-two hours, with 41.5 ° C on August 9 and 42.6 ° C three days later.
In other municipalities, never a month of August was also scorching. Nîmes (Gard) was exhibited at 40.9 ° C on August 10. On the same date, in Pézenas (Hérault), the Mercury climbed up to 41.4 ° C.
Since the 19th century, the average temperature of the earth heated 1.1 ° C. Scientists have established with certainty that this increase is due to human activities, consumers of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). This warming, unprecedented by its speed, threatens the future of our societies and biodiversity. But solutions – renewable energies, sobriety, decrease in meat consumption – exist. Discover our answers to your questions on the climate crisis.
