France recorded its hottest summer since measurements began over a century ago, Environment Minister Monique Barbut announced Thursday. The summer months of June, July, and August saw an average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 3.6 C (6.5 F) above the normal average.
This heat surpasses the previous record set in 2003, when temperatures were 2.7 C (4.9 F) above normal. The national weather agency, Meteo France, noted that the summer was also marked by significantly low rainfall, with a deficit of nearly 40%, making it the second driest summer on record. The season experienced an unprecedented 53 days of heat waves across three separate episodes, far exceeding the 33 days recorded in the summer of 2022.
Firefighters were engaged in continuous efforts to combat wildfires throughout the summer. These fires affected even normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany. A significant wildfire near Bordeaux devastated forests and led to the evacuation of a quarter of a million people.
Record-breaking ocean temperatures were also observed along the coastlines of mainland France and Corsica. Meteo France indicated that unseasonably hot spells occurring outside the summer months, such as in May and early September, are indicative of climate change.
Europe as a whole is warming at twice the global average rate since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Millions across France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and other European nations experienced extreme temperatures during the summer.