A “heat apocalypse”. These are the words of Météo France to describe the week that awaits the Hexagon climate side. Monday, July 18, the entire territory is already affected by an episode of high heat: 29 departments are placed in yellow vigilance, 51 in orange vigilance, and 15 in red vigilance by the institution. This is the fifth time in history that such an alert level has been triggered.

“Monday will mark the culmination of this heatwave episode on the western side of the country with an extreme heat peak: 40 degrees will often be reached or exceeded in the departments on red alert”, specifies the Météo France site.

The heatwave episode is expected to continue on Tuesday, and it could even last until Thursday in some areas.

Red heat wave vigilance is the highest level of the “national heat wave plan”: it indicates “an extreme heat wave, exceptional in terms of its duration, intensity and geographical extent, and has a strong health impact for the entire population and societal impacts (drought, supply of drinking water, development or cessation of certain activities, etc.), specifies the site of the meteorological service.

A level of intense heat that threatens everyone, even healthy subjects, and therefore requires constant attention.

The departments placed in red vigilance on Monday July 18 are:

If you live in these areas, make sure you stay well hydrated throughout the day and avoid sun exposure or outdoor activities.

But in some departments, you will also have to respect certain restrictions, put in place exceptionally by the prefects to limit the effects of this extreme heat wave. Find out what you have the right to do (or not) if your department is placed on red alert in our slideshow.