A New Heatwave Sets in this Tuesday in France: 61 Departments on Orange Alert

For the third time in less than two months, France is facing “very high heat”. The forecasts for the heatwave this Tuesday 7th July 2026.

The heat will go up a notch again this Tuesday 7th July 2026. A news heatwave, after that record of June, settles over a large part of France, at least until the weekend of Saturday 11th July and Sunday 12th July 2026

In the coming days, the maximum expected temperatures will be above 36°C over a large part of France and could regularly exceed 38°C and even 40°C between the southwest and the Mediterranean regions.

And Météo-France multiply the alerts (again). For this Tuesday 7th July 2026, 61 departments are now placed on orange alert for heat waves. There were “only” 16 of them this Monday. And the list will grow further in the coming days.

The departments placed on orange heatwave alert for this Tuesday 7th July 2026:

Allier
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Ardèche
Ariège
Aude
Aveyron
Charente
Charente-Maritime
Cher
Corrèze
Côte-d’Or
Creuse
Dordogne
Drôme
Eure-et-Loir
Finistère
Gard
Haute-Garonne
Gers
Gironde
Hérault
Ille-et-Vilaine
Indre
Indre-et-Loire
Isère
Landes
Loir-et-Cher
Loire
Loire-Atlantique
Loiret
Lot
Lot-et-Garonne
Maine-et-Loire
Mayenne
Morbihan
Nièvre
Puy-de-Dôme
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Hautes-Pyrénées
Pyrénées-Orientales
Rhône
Saône-et-Loire
Sarthe
Savoie
Haute-Savoie
Paris
Seine-et-Marne
Yvelines
Deux-Sèvres
Tarn
Tarn-et-Garonne
Vaucluse
Vendée
Vienne
Haute-Vienne
Yonne
Essonne
Hauts-de-Seine
Seine-Saint-Denis
Val-de-Marne

This Tuesday 7th July, temperatures will rise further, with 36°C to 38°C over a large part of France, “with the exception of northern Brittany-Normandy, Hauts-de-France and the north of the Grand Est”, lists the weather organization.

The departments placed on yellow heatwave alert for this Tuesday 7th July 2026:

Ain
Hautes-Alpes
Aube
Bouches-du-Rhône
Cantal
Jura
Haute-Loire
Lozère
Haute-Marne
Orne

From 38°C to 40°C, or even locally more this Tuesday

The warmest values, from 38°C to 40°C, or even locally more, will concern New Aquitaine as well as the coastal departments of the Gulf of Lion.

The minimums this Tuesday will gradually homogenize from south to north: 17 to 23°C in the southern half, 15 to 20°C in the northern half. Scorching conditions which will therefore continue until the end of the week, at least.

Since May, these anticyclonic situations have been occurring one after the other in western Europe, with blockages tending to form and strengthen in the immediate vicinity of France.

Danger of “persistent fire”

These temperatures, which test organisms and fuel the debate on adaptation to climate change, are accompanied by a “persistent danger of fires”, according to Météo-France, while hundreds of firefighters always fighting against one fire which led to the evacuation of 10,000 people in the Pyrénées-Orientales.

In France, the month of June was the hottest ever known, after an already unprecedented first heatwave in May.

During the scorching week of June 22, the number of deaths increased by 30%, mostly affecting elderly people living at home, according to the agency health public France.