France's national temperature index - the average daytime and nighttime temperature at 30 stations - reached 29.8 degrees Celsius on June 23, the hottest level since measurement began in 1947.
With 4 more provinces and cities in France placed in the highest heat warning on June 24, about 44 million people are affected, according to AFP calculations.
Along with 31 provinces and cities in the orange alert, more than 90% of France's population is facing extreme heat, with expected temperatures from 39-41 degrees Celsius on June 24 in the area from Brittany to Paris and most of the southwest.
This heat wave has caused the first major power outage nationwide in the context of extreme weather. The incident related to the temperature at a transformer caused about 68,000 households in Finistere province to lose power on June 24. Power is expected not to be fully restored until the night of June 24, local time.
According to scientists, up to 106,000 customers of the French power grid lost power at the end of June 23, when the scorching temperature put pressure on infrastructure built for the pre-climate change period, causing heat waves to be longer, more frequent and more intense.
Fan and air conditioner sales skyrocketed in a country where most buildings are not designed to cope with extreme temperatures. On June 22, as of 6:30 PM, the Carrefour supermarket chain sold 30,000 products, "a thousand times more than a normal day," CEO Alexandre Bompard said.
Sales on Amazon nearly doubled in the week from June 15-21 compared to the same period in 2025, while the Fnac Darty electronics store reported double-digit growth.
Thierry - an electrician in southwestern France - said he was overloaded by urgent requests to install air conditioners.
The Italian Ministry of Health issued a red heat warning in 16 cities including Milan and Rome on June 24.
The heat wave is expected to spread to Eastern Europe in the coming days. The Polish meteorological agency issued a high-level heat warning for the western region of the country from June 25-27, forecasting temperatures that could break the record of 40.2 degrees Celsius set in 1921.
The famous Adriatic coast of Croatia was also placed on red alert on June 26-27.
Hungary, which is already in a heatwave warning level 2, said it will raise the warning level to the maximum level from June 27 to June 30 as temperatures continue to rise.
Some signs of cooling down for the current heat wave in Europe may begin to come from the west on June 24, when the Spanish national meteorological agency said temperatures will decrease in most areas of the country.
But there are no other signs of cooling down in other parts of Western Europe. From June 24 to at least June 26, the central and southern Netherlands regions will be in an orange warning about scorching heat. People living in Amsterdam who have city tour permits can swim free of charge at 6 outdoor swimming pools in the city, while the national railway company NS will reduce the number of train trips on some routes starting from June 24.
