Météo France announced that it was lowering the heatwave vigilance level to orange in 11 departments on the evening of Monday July 13, after the peak of the third heat episode of the year reached the day before.
In Morbihan, Loire-Atlantique, Vendée, Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne, Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, Haute-Vienne, Creuse and Orne, the alert will be downgraded from red to orange at 10 p.m., indicates the forecaster in his latest bulletin.
This Monday July 13, 2026:
🔴🌡️37 departments on red alert
🟠🌡️39 departments on orange alert
At 10 p.m. this evening, exit of 11 red vigilance depots.
Tomorrow, Tuesday July 14, 2026:
🔴🌡️26 departments on red alert
🟠🌡️50 departments on orange alert pic.twitter.com/8qxer0xl9A
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) July 13, 2026
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Before that, Haute-Loire will go from yellow to orange at midday. The number of departments at this level of vigilance must be 50 on Tuesday, for 26 in red.
Thirty-seven departments currently remain on maximum alert. According to an AFP calculation based on annual population data from INSEE, this concerns some 26 million French people, including the entire Île-de-France region. Red vigilance must be maintained all day Tuesday, and the heatwave episode will last at least until the middle of the week, according to Météo France.
Even if “a very gradual decline is taking shape” on the Atlantic coast, “the heatwave episode persists, still severe and lasting”, warns the institute, adding that temperatures should start to rise again on Tuesday “in the center of the country, Île-de-France and the South-West”.
Reactor shutdown
On Sunday, Météo France recorded up to 42.3°C inland in Landes, or even 41.8°C in Saintes (Charente-Maritime). The extreme heat is accompanied by a high risk of fires throughout the country. The emblematic Fontainebleau forest, south-east of Paris, has, since Sunday evening, been in the grip of a fire of “exceptional scale” which requires the commitment of unprecedented resources in Île-de-France where rail traffic is very disrupted.
Another consequence of the heat: the shutdown or reduction of power of nuclear reactors, whose cooling circuits discharge hot water into rivers or the sea. Due to environmental standards, three reactors stopped their production on Sunday, No. 2 in Golfech (Tarn-et-Garonne), on the banks of the Garonne, No. 3 in Bugey (Ain), on the banks of the Rhône, and No. 2 in Chooz (Ardennes), on the banks of the Meuse. Seven others are experiencing “power adaptations”, downwards.
This heat wave is the third of the year according to Météo France’s definition, after that of the end of June and the beginning of July. At the end of May, the unprecedented heat episode for a spring had left its mark. Their increasing frequency is an unequivocal marker of climate change. Mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels around the world, the continued warming of the Earth’s atmosphere has serious consequences for humans and all ecosystems.
