Record May heat puts France’s climate preparation to the test as heat dome swelters Europe

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France has witnessed its hottest May day on record, as it braces for even more exceptional heat.

The country’s weather agency Météo France declared yesterday that new monthly highs have been logged at 352 weather stations, mainly in the west, with the highest temperature of 37.1°C registered near Hossegor, close to Biarritz. Climate scientists say the ‘unprecedented’ event has a one in 1,000 chance of happening at this time of the year, based on records dating back to 1979.

Forecasters warn the country will continue to swelter in the coming days due to being trapped under a “highly anomalous and powerful” heat dome – an atmospheric pattern that locks in heatwaves and is becoming more common due to human-caused climate change.

Maximum daytime temperatures are slated to hit a scorching 35°C in Nantes today (26 May), while Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, and Bordeaux will reach 34°C. Even northern cities like Lille will experience maximum temperatures of 30°C.

The heatwave, which has already been potentially linked to multiple deaths, including a 53-year-old runner who died on Sunday in a Paris race, has sounded the alarm for what France can expect as it heads into summer.

Is France getting hotter?

Last year, France was subject to a slew of heatwaves, with temperatures climbing up to 40C in parts of the country. Dozens of departments were placed under orange alert, while Aude suffered one of France’s worst wildfires in the past 50 years – fuelled by the hot, dry conditions. 2025 was the European Union’s worst ever year for wildfires.

According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), France experienced above-average conditions throughout the 2025 summer period, with most of the country undergoing 15 more ‘summer days’ than average. This is where the maximum air temperature is at least 25°C.

Southwestern France also saw some of the largest anomalies in intense heat, with temperatures rising around 6°C above the average seasonal maximum.

Following the scorching summer, a rapid analysis from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that climate change was responsible for around 68 per cent of the 24,000 deaths across 854 European cities, by driving temperatures up to 3.6°C.

The study found that climate change contributed to 1,444 heat deaths in France, with Paris experiencing one of the highest tolls.

It’s a scenario France has been expecting for years, following its groundbreaking ‘Paris at 50°C’ crisis exercise.

Is France prepared for intense heat?

In 2023, the city of Paris organised the ‘Paris at 50°C’ initiative in two arrondissements to help prepare residents for a future of intense heat.

The initiative brought together urban planners, health experts, scientists and public authorities to assess vulnerabilities across key sectors including housing, healthcare, energy and public space.

As part of the exercise, around 70 children were sent into a dark tunnel that maintains a temperature of 18°C. Once underground, they were asked to play out the effects of extreme temperatures that may soon become the new normal.

This included children pretending to be poisoned by spoiled food during a power outage, as well as acting out the effects of carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty generator. Full permission was granted by the children’s caregivers ahead of the exercise.

Red Cross workers used the staged scenarios to figure out who they would send to hospital first, aware that public health systems become inundated during heatwaves. Firefighters, city officials and teachers all joined in, simulating the chaos that occurs from such an event.

A review of the exercise warned that extreme heat poses a serious threat to public health in France, particularly among vulnerable communities. Infrastructure such as the metro and rail lines was also found to be at risk from intense heat.

The report urges Paris to be turned into an “oasis city” by increasing vegetation, establishing more shaded public spaces, reducing heat-retaining surfaces and adapting schools and public facilities to extreme heat conditions.

Paris, along with many other European cities, is often victim to the urban heat island effect. This is where city infrastructure such as concrete and asphalt absorbs heat, keeping temperatures high. The use of indoor air conditioning units only adds to this effect, despite being an essential lifeline for many citizens.

“The countries that will fare best in the coming decade are not the ones with the most money – they are the ones that treat heat as a public health emergency rather than a weather story,” Ionna Vergini, founder of world weather forecast WFY24 tells Euronews Earth.

What is France doing to tackle extreme heat?

Paris has undergone a radical transformation over the last two decades, as the city strives to become greener. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), more than 100,000 trees have been planted in Paris since 2020, including 40,000 over winter 2023.

Since 2020, more than 6,000 parking spaces and 1.3 hectares of asphalt have been removed to enable the streets to be greened. By 2024, there were almost 100 Parisian streets with planters, allowing nature to thrive alongside urban life. Trees and plants improve air quality, creating an added benefit for polluted cities.

“These transformations will be simplified and become the norm thanks to the future bioclimatic Local Urban Plan (PLUb), which sets in stone Paris’s evolution towards more vegetation and nature, working towards the goal of 300 hectares of additional natural spaces in the city,” the IUCN states.

Alongside recommendations reiterated by the ‘Paris at 50°C’ exercise, France is tackling the root cause of extreme heat head on.

During the Santa Marta fossil fuel summit in April, France published its national roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, focussed on electrification.

The plan commits to ending coal use by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas for energy by 2050, as part of its broader goal to reach carbon neutrality.

It consolidates existing measures – including a ban on gas boilers in new buildings from 2026 and a target for two-thirds of new cars to be electric by 2030 – while also reaffirming commitments to support the transition in other countries.