While an exceptional heat wave has just ended, France will “probably experience another heat wave starting this weekend,” Météo-France meteorologist Patrick Galois, quoted by the television channel BFMTV, said.

Galois specified, however, that he cannot currently estimate either the duration or the intensity of the phenomenon.

“Starting Friday and continuing through next weekend, we expect higher temperatures again due to anticyclonic conditions coming from the south of the country,” the specialist noted. Since last Saturday, the heat wave began to subside across France, after 11 days of high temperatures that broke all-time records in several regions between June 24 and 26.

With temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius in some extreme cases, the Ministry of Health reported 50 deaths, mostly from drowning and among the younger victims.

However, French health officials stated that between June 24 and 26, the number of deaths exceeded the usual average of around 1,000 per day. On June 25 and 26, 1,200 deaths were recorded each day.

The 85% of these deaths were among people over 65, many of whom were found alone in their homes, including in Île-de-France (the capital and eight departments of the Paris region).

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