A red alert over France, and heat that may rewrite the record books

A red alert over France, and heat that may rewrite the record books 0 seconds of 1 minute, 4 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Clive Davis, music industry starmaker, has died at 94 00:43 Subtitle Settings OffEnglish(US)_v Font Color White Font Opacity 100% Font Size 100% Font Family Arial Character Edge None Edge Color Black Background Color Black Background Opacity 50% Window Color Black Window Opacity 0% Reset WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25% 200%175%150%125%100%75%50% ArialCourierGeorgiaImpactLucida ConsoleTahomaTimes New RomanTrebuchet MSVerdana NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop Shadow WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% 00:00 01:04 01:04 More Videos 00:43 Clive Davis, music industry starmaker, has died at 94 00:36 Times Square filled as Norway fans 'row' 01:00 AP top stories June 22 01:50 Vance touts Trump's Iran deal as a 'win' that's 'already bearing real fruits' 01:04 Starmer challenger Andy Burnham sworn in as UK lawmaker 00:43 Fans celebrate in Vancouver as Egypt tops New Zealand 3-1 in World Cup match 01:06 Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan dies at 100 00:37 Tom Holland and Zendaya swing into Berlin Close 1 of 6 | Parisians and tourists tried to beat the heat on Monday by seeking shade and flocking to air conditioned museums, as temperatures in the French capital reached 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit). France is gritting its teeth for a week of record-busting temperatures, sweltering under a heat wave that combines daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and sleep-robbing sweaty nights. (AP video shot by Oleg Cetinic) 2 of 6 | A drugstore sign shows the temperature 43 degrees Celsius (109,4 degrees Fahrenheit) in Rennes, western France, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez) 3 of 6 | Tourists with an umbrella take a photo in Paris, as France is enduring a grueling heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena ) 4 of 6 | A man shields himself from the sun with a scarf as he walks in the garden of the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, during a heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) 5 of 6 | A family walks through a cooling water spray at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) 6 of 6 | People cool off in a water spray at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Updated 12:12 PM MESZ, June 23, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Paris (AP) — Millions of people across France woke up drenched in sweat on Tuesday after another night of scorching heat, with most of the population exposed to extreme and exceptional temperatures, while 40 people died from drowning over the past five days in the country. Temperatures will remain exceptionally high around the clock as the national weather service, Meteo France, placed 54 departments under a red heat wave alert. That is about half of the country. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said after a crisis meeting that the 40 people who died by drowning since June 18 were mainly young people. In a country without widespread air-conditioning, schools, trains and sporting events remain impacted. Human-caused climate change is tied to increasingly extreme weather, and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records. “Sunshine continues to dominate across France, maintaining oppressive and exhausting heat throughout the country,” Meteo France said. Extreme conditions are expected to last at least until the end of the week, with daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many towns. Germany’s leader pledges to reform a creaking pension system and says ‘failure is not an option’ 2 MIN READ Estranged husband of former Scottish leader sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in prison 1 MIN READ Armed group in Nigeria kills at least 20 people and exchanges gunfire with police 1 MIN READ “Further record-breaking temperatures are expected, including some that could surpass all previous records, regardless of the time of year,” Meteo France said. The heat wave is exceptionally intense, coming very early in the summer, “but with a still uncertain duration,” the weather service said. It has already been compared to the August 2003 heat wave, when the highest temperatures in over half a century caused an estimated 15,000 deaths, many of them among older people in apartments and retirement homes without air conditioning. France introduced a heat watch warning system after that heat wave. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Over the last four years, more than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes, and most of those deaths were preventable, the World Health Organization’s Europe office said this month. The above-average temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke. Across the English Channel, the Met Office issued a red extreme heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday, with forecasts suggesting June’s all-time daily temperature record could be broken. Temperatures of around 37°C (98.6 F) are expected in southern England, with up to 35°C (95 F) in southeast Wales. The peak of the heatwave is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, when highs could reach at least 39°C (102.2 F). Conditions are expected to ease by Friday, the weather agency said. The EU monitoring agency found that in Europe and globally, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the continent experienced its second-highest number of “heat stress” days. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires. This story corrects the name of the body of water between France and the U.K. to the “English Channel” SAMUEL PETREQUIN Petrequin has been covering sports and news for the Associated Press for 25 years. He is based in Paris. twitter mailto