The national weather authority, Meteo-France, placed 12 departments on red alert, France’s highest heat warning, anticipating exceptional heat stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean plains. Forty-one other departments were under lower-level orange alerts, as was the neighbouring microstate of Andorra, between France and Spain.

The national weather authority, Meteo-France, placed 12 departments on red alert, France’s highest heat warning, anticipating exceptional heat stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean plains. Forty-one other departments were under lower-level orange alerts, as was the neighbouring microstate of Andorra.

It means two to four days of heatwave conditions are likely in the north, before Storm Dexter hits northern Europe and in turn pushes away the warm winds, returning the north to typical conditions. Heatwave conditions in the south-west will remain slightly longer.