{"id":467366,"date":"2026-05-26T07:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/467366\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:06:14","slug":"record-may-highs-sweep-across-france-as-extreme-heat-hits-western-europe-europe-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/467366\/","title":{"rendered":"Record May highs sweep across France as extreme heat hits western Europe | Europe weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 350 French towns have recorded their highest-ever temperatures for May as France<\/a> and the UK set national heat records amid an extreme early-summer heat event that could see the mercury rise to 40C in parts of Spain by the end of the week.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Met Office said the country\u2019s all-time record for May was broken<\/a> when a temperature of 34.8C was recorded at London\u2019s Kew Gardens.<\/p>\n

M\u00e9t\u00e9o France said late on Monday that new monthly highs for May had been recorded at 352 weather stations mainly in western France, with the highest \u2013 37.1C \u2013 registered near Hossegor, in the south-western department of Landes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unprecedented event with a one in 1,000 chance of happening at this time of year based on the climate from 1979 to 2025 and virtually impossible in the preindustrial era,\u201d Christophe Cassou, a climate scientist, told Le Monde<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More new highs are likely to be set in France, Spain<\/a> and the UK, forecasters said, with temperatures exceeding norms by 12C or 13C in what M\u00e9t\u00e9o France described as a \u201cpremature, remarkable and long\u201d heat episode expected to last several more days.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s national weather agency said the record temperatures were caused by a heat dome, with hot air from Morocco trapped under an area of high pressure, adding that Europe<\/a> could expect such events to \u201coccur more and more often and earlier and earlier, and to be more and more intense\u201d.<\/p>\n

Models have already estimated that, with the effects of climate breakdown, June heatwaves are now about 10 times more likely in Europe than they were in the preindustrial era, and the same trajectory is becoming visible for May.<\/p>\n

\"HeatwaveHeatwave hell: are soaring temperatures the new normal? – The Latest<\/p>\n

\u201cThis extension of the heatwave season is entirely characteristic of the effects of climate change,\u201d Robert Vautard, a climate researcher, told Agence France-Presse. \u201cEventually, we will be seeing similar heat events in April and October.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty-one of metropolitan France\u2019s 96 administrative departments have been placed on high-temperature alert until Tuesday, including eight on level orange, the second-highest, requiring residents to \u201ctake precautions\u201d. It was first time the country\u2019s national heat warning system has been activated during May since it was introduced in 2004.<\/p>\n

M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France said in a bulletin on Monday that temperatures could climb locally to near 36C in multiple towns and cities, and to 37C on Tuesday. \u201cThe west of the country will see temperatures several degrees higher than ever recorded in May,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The mercury rose past 35C in the western towns of Niort and Nantes and reached 34.3C in Poitiers, while the capital, Paris, approached 33C. Much of the north-western region of Brittany was expecting temperatures of between 33C and 35C on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Le Parisien newspaper said<\/a> the national temperature average, measured at 30 weather stations across the country, hit a record 24.4C on Monday, against a previous high of 23.7C dating back to 1944. The figure has not yet been confirmed by M\u00e9t\u00e9o France.<\/p>\n

A man died during a 10km running race in the Paris suburb of Maisons-Alfort on Sunday, civil defence services said, reportedly after suffering a heart attack, while 10 more runners had to be taken to hospital in critical condition after the race.<\/p>\n

The hot spell in Spain \u2013 where temperatures in some southern areas hit 38C over the weekend, between 5C and 10C higher than normal \u2013 is also expected to continue through the week, said Rub\u00e9n del Campo of the state meteorological office Aemet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other really notable thing is that the situation is going to last until at least the end of the week. In fact, it could get even hotter on Thursday and Friday, with temperatures of at least 34C across most of the country,\u201d del Campo said.<\/p>\n

Widespread highs of 36-38C in the Guadiana, Guadalquivir and Ebro valleys are expected between Wednesday and Friday, he added, saying that \u201cin some of those areas, temperatures could reach 40C\u201d.<\/p>\n

Del Campo also said much of the country could expect so-called \u201ctropical nights\u201d, in which the night-time temperature does not drop below 20C.<\/p>\n

Parts of the UK could enter a heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 26C to 28C \u2013 depending on the location<\/a> \u2013 for three days. In France, night-time temperatures must also stay above a certain level for an official heatwave to be declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 350 French towns have recorded their highest-ever temperatures for May as France and the UK set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-467366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}