40°C in the shade: This round number, once out of the ordinary, is as alarming as it is now commonplace. At this level of heat, is it really safe to go for a walk with children, to play sports or to take the dog out in the early afternoon? Year after year, people in France have learned to live with temperatures at or above 40°C. The current heatwave, especially severe in the Southwest and Southeast, has not escaped this new reality.

On Monday, Météo-France (the French national meteorological service) recorded 42.9°C in Montat and 42.6°C in Mirande. Several records were set: 42.3°C in Angoulême, 41.6°C in Bordeaux. Temperatures above 40°C continued to be recorded on Tuesday, August 12, and on August 13. "We are now overwhelmed by temperatures above 40°C, whereas for a long time, meteorologists and climatologists in France used the 35°C threshold to measure very high heat," said Christine Berne, director of the climatology department at Météo-France.

By the end of this episode, likely at the beginning of the week of August 18 to 24, dozens of stations among the 120 of Météo-France's main network will have exceeded this threshold. These increasingly high peaks are a direct consequence of human-caused climate change. In a temperate climate like France, temperatures above 40°C were rare for decades. According to Météo-France data, this threshold was surpassed only five times between 1952 – in Allier, at the Vichy-Charmeil station – and 1980, notably on September 17, 1975, in Ajaccio, during a sirocco event. Since 1981, things have accelerated: 27 occurrences between 1981 and 2000.

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