France's government will on Thursday, August 17, hold a crisis meeting to tackle a heatwave that could reach its high point at the weekend, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne's office told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Senior civil servants from Borne's office as well as the interior, health, agriculture and transport ministries were set to meet at 5 pm.
Paris has been stepping up hot weather protection measures this summer after 2022 brought intense heat and fierce wildfires, with four of mainland France and Corsica's 96 departments currently at elevated fire risk and drought affecting two-thirds of water tables.
Some 500 hectares were scorched in the Pyrénées-Orientales department bordering Spain on Monday night. And seven departments in southeastern France are on alert for summer storms and intense heat.
Meanwhile the SPF public health authority said on Thursday that at least 30 more deaths than normal had occurred during a July heatwave in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, on top of 80 in a first episode in June. More than 4,800 deaths were attributed to heat in France last summer, out of 61,000 across Europe.
On Thursday, temperatures above 30ºC were expected across much of southern France, with peaks of up to 37. A so-called "heat dome" trapping new hot air arriving from the south is expected to form in the coming days.
"These high temperatures are set to last, with peaks nearing 40ºC on the Mediterranean coast and the Rhône valley from this weekend," weather authority Météo France said.
Heat will spread into central and northern France as well, with temperatures of 35ºC forecast for Paris. Thermometers will not begin to fall until "the middle or even the end of next week," Météo France added.
Meteorologists have even suggested that France could see its most intense heatwave ever – outstripping 2012's record – with an average temperature of 27ºC recorded for multiple days across 30 monitoring stations nationwide.