France Declares Fifth Heat Wave After Hottest Summer Ever

France is bracing for its fifth heat wave this year after the hottest summer in its history ravaged forests, hurt the tourism season and destroyed crops in Europe’s top agriculture producer.

The new heat wave is due to start on Friday at midday, with extreme temperatures reaching 40C in the southwest of the country over the weekend, said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at France’s weather bureau Météo-France.

“Clearly, with climate change, the summer season is lengthening as it’s starting earlier, in May, and ending later, in September or October,” he said on the sidelines of a press conference near Paris on Thursday.

France has experienced its hottest summer, with record temperatures and the longest-lasting heat waves, Virginie Schwarz, Météo-France chief executive officer, said during the press conference. The country had 53 days of extreme heat, she said.

The country has endured severe droughts and wildfires that destroyed over 96,000 hectares of vegetation already — more than two and a half times the area burned in all of 2025. The heat waves may cost France more than €15 billion ($17.3 billion), according to Ecology Minister Monique Barbut.

More than 7,000 excess deaths were recorded during the heat waves. Wildfires forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate, destroyed hundreds of buildings, and hurt the summer tourism season. Industry group France Assureurs estimates the cost of insurance claims relating to wildfires in the Gironde, Landes and Var areas since July 21 at about €500 million.

France plans to unveil in the coming days a support package worth several hundred million euros to compensate farmers whose crops have been hit hard by the drought and the heat waves this summer.