According to Météo-France, the summer of 2026 was the hottest ever recorded in France since measurements began in 1900, as reported in a statement published on September 3. The average temperature over 24 hours reached 24 °C, which is 3.6 °C higher than the seasonal norms. This places the completed summer season ahead of the summers of 2023 (+ 2.7 °C) and 2022 (+ 2.3 °C). The months of June and July were the hottest in the history of measurements, with average temperatures over 24 hours exceeding the seasonal norms by 4.8 °C, which is 1.5 °C higher than in 2003. Only the beginning of June and the end of August experienced days with temperatures below or close to the norms. The maximum temperatures of the summer of 2026 often reached unprecedented levels and on average for the season show an anomaly of 4.8 °C. Another record was set as the threshold of 40 °C, an extreme temperature in the current climate of France, was exceeded 178 times, surpassing the 88 times in 2003 and the 72 times in 2019. This symbolic threshold was exceeded for the first time in various cities, including Strasbourg, Metz, Alençon, Noirmoutier, Tarbes, and Marignane. The level was even exceeded as early as June and during the summer on many occasions in some places, such as Bourges (five times), Bordeaux (seven times), Cognac (eight times), or Saintes (ten times). Experts note the undeniable link between these observations and global warming. The summer of 2026 presents an anomaly of 5 °C compared to an average summer of the pre-industrial era, of which 2.4 °C is directly attributable to climate change. Scientists consider this summer season "rare in the current climate," representing a frequency of one possibility in 100. However, even hotter and less rainy summers would occur in the 21st century, with the risk higher in the hypothesis of a lack of significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The meteorological summer, which had begun on June 1, ended on August 31. The meteorological seasons are to be distinguished from astronomical or calendar seasons. In this case, if it began on September 1 in the meteorological sense, autumn will begin on September 23 in the astronomical or calendar sense. The dates of the astronomical seasons depend on those of the equinoxes and solstices, while the dates of the meteorological seasons are fixed.