Rail services, schools and sports events hit, with deaths of three elderly people in France partly blamed on intense heat

Jon Henley Europe correspondent
Mon 22 Jun 2026 06.14 EDT

Western Europe is enduring a ferocious heatwave forecast to break temperature records, with half of France on red alert, rail services in Belgium disrupted and sports events in Spain and Germany cancelled or postponed.

French authorities on Monday placed 49 of the country’s 96 mainland departments on a level 1 danger-to-life warning, urging 35 million people to exercise “absolute vigilance”, drink water often, avoid all strenuous exertion and stay out of direct sun.

Another 40 departments were on a level 2 orange alert. “Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term across the country,” said the national meteorological service, Météo-France. “Day and night-time temperatures will be exceptional.”

It said temperatures throughout western and central France were likely to exceed 40C from Monday afternoon, hitting 43C in Bordeaux, 41C in Limoges, 40C in Toulouse and Tours and 39C in Paris, and would continue rising until the end of the week.

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