{"id":38843,"date":"2026-06-21T05:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T05:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/38843\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T05:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T05:58:09","slug":"france-issues-red-alert-as-severe-heatwave-grips-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/38843\/","title":{"rendered":"France issues red alert as severe heatwave grips nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PARIS \u2013 More than three-quarters of France\u2019s population will experience extreme heat today as authorities issue red alerts across 35 departments and ban alcohol at the country\u2019s annual music festival.<\/p>\n<p>The severe heatwave, which began earlier this week, has disrupted the country, forcing the cancellation of dozens of trains and the suspension of classes.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have expressed concern about how the annual F\u00eate de la Musique celebrations will unfold across the country on Sunday 21 June, when musicians perform free concerts in the streets and crowds gather late into the night.<\/p>\n<p>M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France announced the highest heatwave warning for 35 of France\u2019s departments for today, the most ever issued. The weather service said very high temperatures were settling across the country for an extended period.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-attachment-id=\"348547\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/france-issues-red-alert-as-severe-heatwave-grips-nation\/france-weather-climate-heat-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AFP__20260620__B7QR2V4__v1__HighRes__FranceWeatherClimateHeat-scaled.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1707\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;AFP&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;People sunbath on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin as France experiences a heatwave in Paris on June 20, 2026. Due to the ongoing heatwave sweeping across France - the Bassin des Recollets - a portion of the Canal Saint-Martin in the French capital has been opened for swimming from June 17. France issued a red heatwave alert across more than a third of the country for June 21, as a ferocious heatwave dug in and the government banned the consumption of alcohol in certain areas during the annual Fete de la Musique festivities. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE \/ AFP)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1781970530&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;AFP or licensors&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;FRANCE-WEATHER-CLIMATE-HEAT&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"FRANCE-WEATHER-CLIMATE-HEAT\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;People sunbath on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin as France experiences a heatwave in Paris on June 20, 2026. Due to the ongoing heatwave sweeping across France \u2013 the Bassin des Recollets \u2013 a portion of the Canal Saint-Martin in the French capital has been opened for swimming from June 17. France issued a red heatwave alert across more than a third of the country for June 21, as a ferocious heatwave dug in and the government banned the consumption of alcohol in certain areas during the annual Fete de la Musique festivities. (Photo by ARNAUD FINISTRE \/ AFP)&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AFP__20260620__B7QR2V4__v1__HighRes__FranceWeatherClimateHeat-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AFP__20260620__B7QR2V4__v1__HighRes__FranceWeatherClimateHeat-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"People sunbathing on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin.\" class=\"wp-image-348547\"  \/>People sunbath on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin on Saturday, 20 June, as France experiences a heatwave in Paris. Due to the ongoing heatwave sweeping across France \u2013 the Bassin des Recollets \u2013 a portion of the Canal Saint-Martin in the French capital has been opened for swimming from 17 June. PHOTO: ARNAUD FINISTRE \/ AFP<\/p>\n<p>Starting tomorrow, temperatures could reach 41\u00b0C in some areas, and the average reading across the whole country could reach its highest ever, M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France predicted. The duration of the heatwave remains uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>Paris is among the regions on the red alert list, which covers a wide area running south-west from the capital.<\/p>\n<p>According to calculations, more than three-quarters of the mainland\u2019s population will experience extreme heat, with another 45 departments under orange alert.<\/p>\n<p>The government announced on Saturday that alcohol consumption during the annual street festivals would be banned in departments under red alert.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrefects will issue decrees banning alcohol consumption in public spaces in the departments under red alert,\u201d the government said in a statement following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu.<\/p>\n<p>His office said instructions had been given not to offer alcohol at events organised by the state and its agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The government has called for limits on alcohol consumption \u201cto preserve emergency and healthcare services and allow medical staff to focus on caring for the most vulnerable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>To help Parisians and tourists cope with the heat, authorities are keeping parks and gardens in the capital open through the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2013 More than three-quarters of France\u2019s population will experience extreme heat today as authorities issue red alerts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5,17944,5318],"class_list":["post-38843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-france","tag-heatwave","tag-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}