The Côte d’Azur weather bureau issued a #weatherflash late last night announcing the never-ending heatwave is due to “stick around longer than expected”.
Local residents and holidaymakers, even sunseekers, had breathed a sigh of relief last week when the bureau announced temperatures would drop from today, Saturday 15 August 2026.
But last night, the bureau backtracked, saying: “Don’t shoot the messenger, but we’ll have to wait a little longer before we can truly breathe easy again! 😅”
Meteo Cote d’Azur said that while a drop in temperature is still on the horizon, “it has been delayed and will be more gradual than initial models predicted”.
The forecast now (which of course could still change) is that “more breathable conditions” are only due after the 21st August, when more unsettled, stormy weather will arrive.
Climate crisis needs urgent attention
After two months of this heatwave, the bureau added that “it’s safe to say that the summer of 2026 marks a genuine shift toward a new climate.”
France has been plagued by wildfires during this summer season, and two weeks ago the foreign affairs ministers for France and the UK reaffirmed their “shared determination” to address the global climate crisis, stating that the fires demonstrated the risks posed by climate change, and calling on all countries to intensify their efforts to tackle its causes.
Ironically, while we all desperately seek out air-conditioned shops and restaurants, the very machines that are cooling us down indoors are pumping out hot air into the alleys and squares behind them. And while we head to the beach to cool down, some municipalities have paved the coastal promenades in concrete which exacerbates the heat, with little or no trees, not even manmade sails, to provide shade. And with it being too hot to walk, more people are using their cars which further exacerbates the crisis.
Several towns on the French Riviera have been placed on Water Restrictions by the Alpes-Maritimes department in order to preserve current water resources in the territory.
In Antibes, which is on Enhanced Alert, washing cars at home and filling private swimming pools is banned, as is watering the garden and flowerbeds. Beach showers are meant to be closed as well, but Antibes has taken the decision to allow bathers to continue, following “abnormally high levels of e-coli” being found in the sea water (at La Gravette beach) on 24 July. The beach was closed for only 24 hours, until the water quality returned to a compliant levels. If you are using a beach shower, please remember only two presses are enough to rinse off.
On the lighter side
This ‘Heatred’ post on Instagram, hashtagged #globalwarming, pretty much sums up how most people are feeling right now:
View this post on Instagram
