Marseille (France) (AFP) – Five departments in the southern part of France will be classified from Friday and probably until the weekend in orange heatwave vigilance due to a new heat wave arriving this time from the Iberian Peninsula, Météo France warned on Thursday.

Published on: 03/09/2026 - 16:51

Ardèche, Aude, Drôme, Gard and Hérault are thus affected from Friday 12:00 p.m. where temperatures could locally approach 40 degrees.

“The maximums are clearly rising on Friday afternoon in the southern half, particularly in the South-West and the Rhône valley, with 36 to 38°C expected (locally 39°C in the interior of Languedoc),” announced the meteorological organization in its 4:00 p.m. bulletin.

“Monthly heat records are likely in places. Elsewhere in the southern half, the maximums are between 30 and 33°C,” predicts Météo France, which warned at the start of the week of this probable new heat wave.

Météo France warns that these very high temperatures will persist "at least until Sunday in the southern half of the country, particularly in the South-East, while the northern half remains further away, with maximums there being below 35°C".

Ten other departments will be on yellow alert on Friday, namely Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Isère, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Orientales, Rhône and Vaucluse.

France recorded an "unprecedented" number of days in a heat wave this summer with 53 days, Météo France indicated Thursday in its report for the season, marked by three waves of abnormally high temperatures between June and August.

© 2026 AFP

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