France nears national record temperatures amid heatwave

France is experiencing an intense heatwave, with temperatures expected to remain exceptionally high until at least Thursday and potentially exceed the country's national average temperature record for the month of June, Meteo-France said on Monday.

Meteo-France placed 49 French departments under a red alert and another 40 under an orange alert on Monday. The agency said the heatwave is expected to spread further on Tuesday, with 54 departments under red alert and 35 others under orange alert.

French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Monday that 1,352 schools and middle schools were closed due to the heatwave, while 4,042 others had introduced special arrangements to cope with the extreme temperatures.