The heatwave spread on Friday June 19 in France, with 53 departments now affected by orange vigilance – along an axis going from the South-West to the North-East – a situation which led several municipalities to cancel the popular Music Festival scheduled for Sunday.
The heat episode promises to be “extensive, lasting and intense”, warns Météo France. The organization predicts in its 6 a.m. bulletin that vigilance will be maintained on Saturday and “very probably further extended in the coming days”. The “remarkable heatwave peak” is expected between Sunday and Tuesday, with “peaks of 40°C in particular in the West and the Center”, anticipates Météo France.
⬇️ Overview of maximum temperatures forecast for the next 3 days. pic.twitter.com/4Yjqdq1DPq
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) June 17, 2026
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Emmanuel Macron called for “great vigilance” and “taking care of the oldest, the most vulnerable” because “these are difficult days”.
Canceled classes, rearranged timetable, regrouping in the coolest rooms: schools are organizing themselves to cope with the heatwave. In the Poitiers academy, the “grand oral” baccalaureate exams, scheduled for the afternoon of Monday June 22 and Tuesday June 23, have been postponed for one week.
🟠 Extension of the Orange Heatwave Vigilance this Friday from 12 p.m. with 53 departments in total. ⚠️ Extensive, lasting and intense heatwave episode. 📞 To deal with this extreme heat, call the Canicule info service toll-free number at 0800 06 66 66. 📱 vigilance.meteofrance.fr/fr
— Météo-France (@meteofrance.com) 2026-06-18T14:42:42.457Z
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The Minister of Education Édouard Geffray, who is visiting a school in Eure-et-Loir on Friday, is expected to provide details on the number of students affected by the postponements of oral exams and possible class closures.
The heat also jeopardizes the popular Music Festival, a tradition born more than forty years ago and scheduled for Sunday. Activities have been canceled in Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze), as well as in several small towns in Seine-et-Marne, Gironde, Sarthe or Charente-Maritime.
Adverse effects at night
The police headquarters have recommended the cancellation of outdoor sporting events in Paris and the inner suburbs. To combat pollution, measures are also being put in place from Friday, including differentiated traffic in part of the Paris metropolitan area as well as a reduction in the maximum authorized speed. And in the world of work, especially outdoors, adaptation is essential.
The harmful effects of the heatwave are also felt at night. When the temperature does not drop below 20°C, sleep and recovery abilities suffer, and “the health risk increases”, recalls the government.
⬇️ Overview of maximum temperatures forecast for the next 3 days. pic.twitter.com/4Yjqdq1DPq
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) June 17, 2026
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The episode is particularly difficult to get through for working-class neighborhoods, overexposed to summer energy poverty and the phenomenon of “kettle housing,” the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged warned Thursday. This is the second heat episode in a few weeks to affect France, hit in May by unprecedented temperatures for the month.
