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France heatwave: 130 February records broken – more mild weather to come

France saw more than 130 seasonal temperature records fall on February 25 as a second day of unseasonably warm weather swept the country.

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Exterior view of the Sainte-Croix Cathedral of Orléans, a Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral located in Orléans, France
Exterior view of the Sainte-Croix Cathedral of Orléans, a Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral located in Orléans, France. Picture: Alamy

By Camille Bidard

More than 130 seasonal temperature records were broken across France on February 25, as unseasonably warm weather swept the country for a second consecutive day.

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Temperatures reached almost 29C in the south-west and topped 22C in parts of Normandy.

Records were set from Orléans(22.4C) to Pointe de Socoa (28C). In the Alps, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc recorded 21.1C at 1,040 metres altitude.

Across much of the country, temperatures were between 10C and 15C above seasonal norms, particularly in the south-west and central regions.

The spell has been driven largely by a high-pressure system moving in from the Azores.

The warm conditions follow more than 40 consecutive days of above-average national temperatures, underlining what meteorologists describe as an exceptional February anomaly.